
GIass_Z=L_?5:^_i^ 
Book- 




MEMOEIAL 



LIVES AND SERVICES 



OF 



JAMES PITTS 1^ 



AND HIS SONS, 



JOHN, SAMUEL AND LENDALL, 



DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 



1760-1780. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL APPENDIX, 



DANIEL GOODWIN, JR. 



Printed for Famify and Private Use. 



CHICAGO : 

Culver, Page, Hotne & Co. 

February, 1882. 






8««M> 



TfljlBM^^ 



INDEX OF NAMES. 



Adams, J., 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 13, 17, 
18,22,23,24,30,32,40,41. 

Adams, Mrs. J., 26. 

Adams, J. Q., 2, 9, 18, 25. 

Adams, Samuel, 6, 9, 11, 12, 16, 
17,18.22,23,24,28. Bible 62. 

Alden, John, 2, 40. 

Alden, Elizabeth, 40. 

Amory, Thomas C, 6, 40. 

Andrews, John, 10. 

Austin, Samuel, 16. 

Batchelder, Judge, 7. 

Batchehler, Samuel, 6. 

Bermudas, The, r>, 8. 

Bernard, Gov., 12, 19, 20. 

Bethune, Divie, 46. 

Bethune, Isabella, 46. 

Boston Tea Party, 16. 

Boston Port Bill, 22. 

Boutineau. Stephen, 56, 

Bowdoin, James, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 
9, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 
23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 32, 35, 51, 52, 
63,65, 66,57, 60,61. 

Bowdoin, Pierre, 5. 

Bowdoin, William, 56. 

Bowdoin, Judith and Phoebe, 8. 

Bradford, Gamaliel, 7, 8, 29,40. 

Bradford, Capt. John, 21. 

Bradford, William, 7, 40. 

Brldgman, Thomas, 6. 

Brown, Caroline Pitts, 42. 

Brown, Henry B., 42. 

Bunker Hill, 29. 

Burke, Edmund, 25. 

Bridge, W. S., .36. 

Brinley, Francis, 52. 

Brinley, Nathaniel, 36, 37, 53. 

Brinley, Robert, 36, 53. 

Brinley, William Bridge, 36, 53. 

Cambridge, 8. 

Castle William, 12, 13, 19. 

Cazeaux, James L., 48. 

Cazeaux, Lendall Pitts, 48. 

Chatham. Lord, 23, 25. 

Church, Benjamin, 28. 

Concord, 29. 

Cooper, Dr., 5, 14, 22. 

Copley, J. S., 36. 

Council, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, 14, 16, 

18, 21, 22. 
Cranage, Thomas, 42. 
Cranage, Samuel Pitts, 42. 
Cushing, Thos., 14, 17, 23, 25, 28. 

Dalrymple, Col., 11, 12, 13. 
Dana, Francis, 14, 18. 
Dana, Richard, 6, 18. 
Dartmouth, Lord, 20, 21, 22, 23, 

27. 
Davis.Williamand Johanna, 37. 
Davis, Mary, 38. 
Dearborn, Gen. H., 53. 
Dexter, Franklin, 18. 



Dexter, Samuel, 6, 8, 12, 13, 18, 

19, 20, 32. 
Dexter, Wirt, 18. 
Duffield, Geo., 41, 42, 43, 44, 45. 
Duffield, Henry M., 42, 43, 44, 

45,46. 

Elizabeth Islands, 56. 
Ellis, George E., 41. 
Erving, John, 5, 6. 

Farlin, Clias. D. and S., 39. 
Fitch, Timothy, 47. 
Flucker, Thomas, 7, 8, 37. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 14, 15, 22. 
Frothingham,"R., 10, 20, 28. 

Gage, Gov. Thomas, 8, 22, 28. 
Gardiner, 6, 29. 
Gladstone, William E., 46. 
Goodwin, Daniel, 40, 41, 42. 
Goodwin, Stephen A , 9. 
Griffin's Wharf, 16. 
Graham, Dr. and Joanna, 46. 

Hall, Hugh and John, 2,35, 56. 

Hallowell, 6. 

Hancock, John, 4, 5, 6, 11, 16, 

17, 20, 28. 
Harvard, 2, 3, 4, 8. 
Hawley, Joseph, 29, 31. 
Hewes, 21. • . 

Hilliard, George S., 41. ' ' ' ' 
Hutchinson, Thomas, 1,2, 9, 10, 

11, 12, 13,16,19,20,22,23. 

Jacobs, Susannah, 50. 

Kennebec Company, 6, 61, 62. 

Langdon, Samuel,'?. 
Lamed, Charles, 41. 
Lincoln, Gen. B., 51. 
Lindall, James, 2, 35, .50. 
Lossing, 21. 
Lowell, James R., 18. 

Marshall, Thomas, 31. 
Merrill, Elizabeth B., 7. 
Merrill, Charles, 47, 
Merrill, James, 9, 4'7. 
Merrill, Joshua, 9, 47. 
Merrill, Julia and Sarah, 39. 
Mountfort, S., 38, 47, 48, 49. 
Mountfort Bible, 62. 

Newell, Timo, 31. 

Paine, R. T., 19, 24, 25. 

Palmer, Elizabeth and Thos,, 47. 

Peabody, Elizabeth and Wm., 39. 

Phillips, 28. 

Pickering, Timothy, 25. 

Pitts, Berwick, 2, 34. 

Pitts, Elizabeth Bowdoin, 3, 4, 5, 

6, 35, 52. 
Pitts, George, 39. 



Pitts, James, 2. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 

11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18,22, 23, 33, 

34, 35, 61, 62. 
Pitts, John, 2, 3, 9, 14, 16, 17, 19, 

20, 27, 30, 32, 33, 34, 44, 46, 50, 

.51. 
Pitts, Lendall, 3, 16, 20, 21, 36, 47. 
Pitts, Mary B , 47. 
Pitts, Samuel, 3, 10,11, 16, 17,20. 
Pitta, Samuel M., 5, 35. 39, 40, 

41, 42, 63. 
Pitts, Thomas, 2, 3, 19, 38, 39, 42. 
Pownall, Thomas, 8. 
Prescott, Col. and W. H., 18. 

Rogers, John and Hannah, 39. 
Rush, Dr. Ben, 25 

Sawyer, F., 39. 
Sanborn, Emeline P., 46, 47. 
Sanborn, Dr. Benjamin, 46, 47. 
Sanborn, James M., 46, 47. 
Sanborn, John Pitts, 46, 47. 
Sanborn, Nancie, 47. 
Sanborn, Peter B., 46, 47. 
Sanborn, William, 46, 47. 
Scollay, John, 16, 31. 
Seward, W. H., 9. 
Storey, Joseph, 18. 
Southworth, C, 2. 
Standish, Miles, 2. 
Steele, Commodore, 37. 
Stoddard, John and Sarah, 2, 35. 
Sullivan, George, 53. 
Sumner, Charles, 40. 

Temple, Elizabeth. 14. 
Temple, Sir Grenville, 14. 
Temple, air John, 13, 24, 26. 
Trumbull, Jonathan, 4. 
Tudor, William, 8, 14. 
Tyng, Edward, 5, 6, 61. 

Vassall, 6. 
Vinton, Dr., 2. 

Ward, Gen. A., 19, 20. 
Warner, Jonathan, 36, 48, 58, 61. 
Warren, James, 32. 
Warren, Gen. Joseph, 6, 16, 17, 

18, 27, 28, 29. 
Warren, George W., 40. 
Warren, Mary Ann, 40. 
Warren, Ezra and Harriet 0., 40. 
Warren, Henry and Samuel, 40. 
Washington, George, 23,30 31. 
Webster, D.. 18, 23. 

Wells, S. A., 12, 28. 
Wendell, Oliver, 16, 28, 31. 
Wentworth, John, 4, 36. 
Wheelock, Jonathan, 40. 
Whiting, Wm. (extract), 34. 
Winthrop, John. 3, 12, 14, 15, 18, 

19, 20, 22, 24, 31. 
Winthrop, Robert C, 2, 4, 9, 14, 

18, 24, 37, 45, 51. 
Winthrop, Thomas L., 14, 18. 



APPENDIX. 



DATES. PAGE. 

Will of Edmond Mountfort 1690 49 

Will of Susannah Jacobs 1727 49 

Will of John Pitts 1729 50 

Inventory, James Pitts 1776 51 

Wills and Estates 51 

Obituary, Elizabeth Bowdoin Pitts 1771 52 

Obituary, Robert Brinley 1867 52 

Obituary, Nathaniel Brinley 1864 53 

Power of Attorney, John Audlie to John Pitts 1695 54 

Power of Attorney, Sarah Mason to John Pitts 1730 54 

James Pitts, et al., to Edward Hutchinson, et al — Bond 1733 55 

James Pitts, et al., to Edward Hutchinson, et al — Bond 1740 55 

Thomas Flucker, Receipts 1732-48 57 

Letter, Gov. Bowdoin to James Pitts 1752 57 

Letter, Col. Henry Jackson to Gen. Knox 1777 57 

Letter, Senator John Pitts to Col. Jonathan Warner 1781 58 

Letter, Senator John Pitts to Col. Jonathan Warner 1782 58 

Letter, Senator John Pitts to Gen. Knox 1782 59 

Letter, John Elliott to John Pitts 1793 60 

Letter, Shrimpton Hutchinson to John Pitts 1784 61 

Letter, John Pitts to Col. Warner 1797 60 

Kennebec Company Advertisement 1761 62 

Mountfort Bible 1679 62 



" The patriotic youth of this and succeeding generations, who wish 
to learn and know the true origin of the Independence of the country 
and its early achievements in the cause of liberty — who wish to imbue 
into their own hearts the fullness of that spirit, will keep their attention 
turned constantly to this spot, whence issued the light, which, in 1775, 
illumined the continent." — Daniel Webster s last speech, in Faneuil Hall. 



The following memorials of two of your Revolutionary ancestors, 
James Pitts and Elizabeth Bowdoin, I dedicate to the grandchildren 
of Samuel Mountfort Pitts and Sarah Merrill, ten in number, recorded 
in the Family Bible as 

Henry Martyn Dupfield, Jr., 

Samuel Pitts Cranage, 

Mary Cranage, 

Samuel Pitts Duffield, 

DiviE Bethune Dupfield, 

Helen S. Pitts, 

Francis Duffield, 

Morse Stewart Duffield, 

Samuel Lendall Pitts and 

Graham Dupfield, 

all born between 1865 and 1876, one hundred years after the events 
I mean especially to review, hoping and believing that a study of the 
characters of the great departed will ennoble your own aspirations 
toward the highest and best development. My attention has been 
especially directed to this subject of late from the purchase by Mr. 
Thomas Pitts, of the original portraits of James Pitts, the coun- 
cilor, and his wife Elizabeth, and their only daughter Mrs. Col. Warner, 
and by a recent visit to the city where they lived their memorable 
lives, and from a conversation with and perusal of the extensive his- 
torical and patriotic addresses of the great orator. Robert C. Winthrop, 
who draws his lineage through two of the same lines with yourselves, 
James Lindall and James Bowdoin, of the seventeenth century. As 
you increase in ^^ears and understanding, may you begin and end ^-our 
examination of these pages in the spirit so well expressed by Divie 
Bethune Duffield, at the golden wedding of 1867 : " It becomes us to 
remember that the virtues of those glorious men and women were 
personally and only their own, and not ours. Cherisli their memories 
as fountains of inspiration, looking upon them as examples after whom 
you may fashion your own lives, so that in the generations to come 
your names may be in the golden record of departed ancestry." 



"WHO IS MR. PITTS?" 



" Who is Mr. Pitts ? " asked G-eorgelll, of Gov. Hutcliinson, at the 
memorable inter\'iew between those distinguished characters and Lord 
Dartmouth, on the 1st of July, 1774. The lapse of a century has so 
covered the memory of Mr. Pitts and his famil}', that few persons of 
the present year of grace, 1 882, know more of him than did King George 
III. That arbitrary king and his infamous administration learned to 
their sorrow to know and appreciate Mr. Pitts and his family, and it 
will be a labor of pleasure to now recall their memory to all lovers of 
patriotism, self-sacrifice and exalted virtue. 

This memorial will be written with no desire to trumpet the vir- 
tues of' that worth}' man through the halls of ambition or fame, but 
only with a view of brushing from his memor}' the dust which an hun- 
dred years have covered over it. His descendants are few and 
widely scattered. The great wealth possessed by that generation of 
the family was soon scattered, and gone, and most of those who drew 
their blood from his lineage, have been actively engaged in places far dis- 
tant from the scene of his labors and influence, and to-day no one re- 
mains to bear the name in old Boston, the city where " Pitts street " and 
" Pitts wharf," and the Pitts tomb, in King's Chapel buryiug-ground, 
sometimes recall the name of a forgotten hero to the passer-by. So it is 
with the Lindall and Bowdoin families, with whom he was so closely 
allied, his mother being a Lindall and his wife a Bowdoin. No Lin- 
dall or Bowdoin descendant in the male line is known to exist any- 
where, and the few male members of the Pitts famil}' all reside far 
from the old Bay State, whose political and financial foundations 
they helped to lay. 

James Bowdoin was the President of the convention which framed 
the constitution of that State, and his nephew, John Pitts, was the 
Speaker of the first House of Representatives of Massachusetts, in 
1778, and to-day there is no living descendant to either of them, in 
the male line, to bear their names. 

Of the early life of James Pitts I have been able as yet to learn 
but little. His father, John Pitts, was a son of Berwick Pitts, of Lyme 
Regis, County Dorset, England, a small seaport on the southern coast. 



Here John was born about 1668, and came to Boston about 1695 and 
was a merchant of prominence and success. 

On the 10th of September, 1697, he married Elizabeth Lindall, a 
daughter of James and Susannah Lindall2,of Duxbur^-, born May 28) 
1684, and died 1720. His father, James LindalU, came from England 
when a young man, probably- in 1639. [See Rev. Dr. Yinton's sketch, 
New Eng. Gen. Reg., VII, p. 15.] He died in 1652, and his will was wit- 
nessed by Miles Standish and John Alden. [Xew Eng. Gen. Reg., IV, p. 
242, e^ ante]. His executor was Constant Southworth. Robert C.Win- 
throp, descendant of James Bowdoin, is a descendant, in the seventh gen- 
eration, from James Lindall ^ , his father being Thomas Lindall Winthrop, 
son of Jane Borland Lindall, who was a daughter of Judge Timothy 
Lindall, born 1677, died 1760, who graduated at Harvard in 1695, and 
was a Councilor from 1727 to 1731. He left a large estate, a long 
will and many heirs. All the families mentioned by Vinton and Win- 
throp spell the name Lindall. I have no doubt Lendall Pitts, of the 
tea-part}', was named for his grandmother, and that the spelling was 
changed without particular reason or design. 

The first American Pitts born of this family was John, born in 1700, 
died in 1727 ; the next was Elizabeth, born in 1703, married Hugh 
Hall in 1722 ; the next was Sarah, born in 1705, married William 
Stoddard in 1721 ; the next was Thomas, in 1707. He graduated at 
Harvard, in 1726, and commenced the study of the law, but died 
that same year. 

The third son, James, the principal subject of this memoir, was 
born, in 1712, at Boston, one year later than his distinguished enemj' 
of later years, Gov. Hutchinson. He entered Harvard, in 1727, and 
graduated in 1731, being second on the roll of thirty-four. 

The lapse of a century and a half has left us but little record of 
old John Pitts, the founder of the American family, or of the elder 
James Bowdoin. his contemporary ; but a fact stated by John Quincy 
Adams (Life of John Adams, p. 14) shows that both of those 
families commanded a very high position as early as 1727. 

" The distinction of ranks at Harvard University was observed 
with such punctilious nicety that, in the arrangement of every class, 
precedence was assigned to every individual according to the dignity 
of his birth, or to the rank of his parents. John Adams was thus 
placed the fourteenth in a class of twenty-four. This custom contin- 
ued until the class which entered in 1769, when the substitution of the 
alphabetical order in the names and places of the members of each 



3 

class may be considered as a pregnant indication of the republican 
principles which were rising to an ascendency over those which had 
prevailed diu'ing the colonial state of the countr}."" 

The only predecessor of James Pitts in the class of 1731, was 
Judge Russell, and he was followed b}^ a Sparhawk, a Gookin, a Sewall 
and a Gushing. In the class of 1745, numbering twentj^-four, James 
Bowdoin also ranked second, his father having been, for mau\- years, 
one of the king's Council. John Pitts was seventh in the class of 1757, 
and his wife's father, John Tyng, was second in the class of 1725. 
Pitts Hall, a nephew of James, was sixth in the class of 1747. 

Among Mr. Pitts" college-mates were Gov. Jonathan Belcher, 
Judge Oliver, Prof John Winthrop — the last his warm co-patriot in 
the Cotincil for man}- years. 

Soon after James Pitts graduated, his father died, leaving him. in 
his twentieth 3-ear sole heir to a fortune and an established business. 
On the 26th of October, 1 732, he married Elizabeth Bowdoin, in her 
sixteenth year, the beautiful daughter of the Councilor, James Bow- 
* doin, and Hannah Portage. Bowdoin was the wealthiest man in New 
England at that time, and his connection must have been of great 
advantage to 3Ir. Pitts, financially and socially. In March, 1733, he 
became sole executor and principal legatee of his grandmother Susan- 
nah, wife of James Lindall and afterward wife of John Jacobs, who 
left a large estate. (See her will, p. 49 post.) September 8, 1747, 
Mr. Bowdoin died, leaving a will, appointing James Pitts. James Bow- 
doin and Thomas Flucker, his executors. In addition to his private 
business and the settlement of the estates of his father and grand- 
mother, the management of the estate of James Bowdoin brought 
upon him an immense labor. Mr. Bowdoin was chief member of the 
Kennebec Company, who owned 20,000 acres of land on the Kennebec 
River, which, with its fall of 1,000 feet in 150 miles, presented a grand 
field for improvement. I have one of the original advertisements by 
James Bowdoin, James Pitts, Silvester Gardiner, Benjamin Hallowell 
and William Bowdoin, 20th Februar}-, 1761, proposing to grant to each 
settling family 250 acres, on condition only that each famih' should 
build a house and clear five acres, and dwell there seven j'ears. James 
Pitts had one daughter — Elizabeth, who married Col. Jonathan Warner, 
of Portsmouth, and six sons — John, James, Thomas, William, Samuel 
and Lendall. At that time, under George II, the colonies were at peace 
with England, and the warmest cordiality existed between them. The 
crafty Walpole and his good Queen, Caroline, always carried out their 



great principle of expediency and keeping the nation at peace. The 
Queen died, in 1737, and Walpole resigned in 1742. 

The merchants of Boston had, for years, carried on a profitable 
trade with foreign nations, and 'had grown wealthy and lived in luxury 
and ease. Boston was then the largest and finest city in America, and 
larger and better built than any city in England, except London. They 
were in constant communication with the mother countrj', and read the 
books then coming out by the old English and Scotch worthies. Mr. 
John Oldmixon, of England, published, in 1741, a second edition of 
his " British Empire in America," in which he says : 

" Conversation in Boston is as polite as in most of the cities and 
towns in England, many of their merchants having traded in Europe, 
and those that stayed at home having the advantage of society with 
travellers ; so that a gentleman from London would almost think him- 
self at home at Boston, when he observes the number of people, their 
houses, their furniture, their tables, their dress and conversation, which, 
perhaps, is as splendid and showy as that of the most considerable trades- 
man in London. Upon the whole, Boston is the most flourishing town 
for trade and commerce in the English America. Near 600 sail of ships 
have been laden here in a year for Europe and the British Plantations. 
The goodness of the pavement may compare with most in London." 

They were deeply imbued with the theories and teachings of gov- 
ernment of Milton, Sidne}^, Hampden, Pyra and Locke. 

It will require little imagination to fill up a lovely picture of the 
Pitts home from 1732 to 1760. Youth, health, wealth, success, college 
acquaintances, social life of the best and purest kind, and characters of 
inflexible virtue and independence, as exhibited in their future public 
life, must have combined to make an ideal home. 

In 1753, their oldest son, John, born in 1738, entered Harvard, and 
his father, at forty-one, and his mother, at thirtj'-six, kept alive the 
freshness of life that needed not, in their case, an}' renewal. John's 
rank was seven in a class of twent3^-six, his predecessors being Atkin- 
son, Vassall, Appleton. Livingston, Erving and Russell — all very dis- 
tinguished ft^milies ; he was followed by Peter Chardon, Edward 
Brooks, Theophilus Bradbury and other leading names. Among his 
college mates were John Adams, John Hancock, John Wentworth, 
David Sewall, S. H. Pai'sons and Jonathan Trumbull. What a galax}- 
of stars ! How Grrandmother Bowdoin Pitts, only thirty-six years old 
when her boy was a Freshman, and only forty when he was a graduate, 
must have enjoyed the college days of those boys ? 



From the meager evidence in m}- possession, I should think it prob- 
able that all of the sons entered into business with their father. They 
are all spoken of as merciiants, engaged in building and buying ships 
and using them in foreign trade with the Bermudas and other places.* 
It is not probable that John continued long in any business, except 
the care of property, for he soon married Elizabeth, the only child of a 
ver}' rich gentleman, Judge John Tyng, who graduated at Har- 
vard in 1725; for many years a member of the House and Council) 
and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Middlesex County, from 
1763 to 1786. John Adams said, in a letter to William Tudor, Feb- 
ruary 4, 1817 : " Gov. Pownall was the most constitutional and national 
Grovernor who ever represented the crown in this Province. His con- 
ciliatory and comprehensive system was too refined and too sublime 
for human nature in this contentious, warring world. In pursuance of 
it he consulted Chief Justice Pratt and Judge John Tyng. Tyng was 
Chief Judge after the Revolution." He was only son of Maj. William 
Tyng, who was son of Col. Jonathan Tyng, Judge of the Common Pleas 
from 1702 to 1719, and one of Sir Edmund Andros' Council, under 
James II. Col. Jonathan Tyng was son of Hon. Edward Tyng, born 
in Dunstable, England, in 1600, who came to Boston, in 1639, and was 
one of His Majesty's Council, and was deputed to carry out the grant 
of 100 acres of land to Pierre Bowdoin, by warrant, dated October 
8, 1687.— (New Eng. Gen. Keg., XI, p. 284 ; Winthrop's Bowdoin, p. 4.) 

Mr. James Pitts was a Congregationalist, and attended the church of 
the famous patriot and preacher. Dr. Samuel Cooper. In Andrews' letter 
(Mass. Hist. Pro., 1864-65, p. 322), February, 1772, he says : " Dr. 
Cooper's congregation have at last concluded to pull down their old 
cathedral, and build as grand a house as our native materials will 
admit of. They have computed it to cost £8,000 sterling. Mr. Bow- 
doin gave £200 ; Pitts, Erving and Gra}^ £100 sterling each. James 
Pitts was for many years Treasurer of the Society for Propagating 
Christian Knowledge among the Indians. I have a copy of a bond 
for £2,000 by John Kneeland and Nathaniel Cary to him as such Treas- 
urer, in 1873, conditioned for the payment to him of one third of the 
whole estate of Richard Martyn, under his will, for the use of that society. 

James Pitts' residence, for many years, was on the spot where the 

*Thore is an interestiiis" account of the Bermudas in Harper's Magazine, 
Dcccuihcr, 1873, pa,o:e 484, and a beautiful picture of Pitts Bay. It says that 
during- our Revolution, tlieir sympathies were warmly enlisted in favor of the 
Colonies and States ; that a large amount of gunpowder disappeared mys- 
teriously from there in 1775, two months after the battle of Bunker Hill. 
Probably the Pitts family cotild have explained its change of base. 



Howard Atheneum now stands, though it seems he owned, at the time 
of his death, the old Vassall mansion on the Auburn road, opposite the 
residence of the poet. Longfellow. There is a full and interesting 
description of this ancient mansion, by Thomas C. Amory. classmate of 
Samuel M. Pitts (Yol. XXV, p. 237. Xew Eng. Gen. Reg.) It was built 
by the Belchers, who sold it. in 1720. to John Yassall. who sold it 
to Henry Vassall. It was conveyed by Henry Vassall and wife to 
James Pitts. December 11, 1748, and was afterward bought by Andrew 
Craigie. and since 1S42 has been the home of Samuel Batchelder. I 
have John Pitts" original letter to Col. Warner, saying he had sold this 
place to Nathaniel Tracey. May 10. 17S2. 

It is said by Drake A: Bridgman that Mr. Pitts Boston home was 
a favorite meeting-place for the patriotic clubs. He and all his boys 
were Sons of Liberty. John Adams, in his diary. February 15. 1771. 
speaks of • going to Mr. Pitts" to meet the Kennebec Company — Bow- 
doin. Gardiner. Hallowell and Pitts. There I shall hear philosophy 
and politics in perfection from H.: high-flying, high church, high State 
from G.: sedate, cool moderation from Bowdoin : axd warm, honest, 

FRANK WhIGGISM FROM PiTTS." 

January 10. 1771. he says : - Dined at John Erving's with Gray. 
Pitts. Hancock. Adams ["Samuel]. Townsend and others. " 

June 30, 1772. he says : ■ It has been my fate to be acquainted, in 
the way of my business, with a number of very rich men — ( rardiner. Bow- 
doin. Pitts. Hancock. Rowe. Lee. Sargent. Hooper and Doane. There 
is not one of those who derives more pleasure from his property than I do 
from mine : my little farm, and stock, and cash, afford me as much satis- 
faction, as all their immense tracts, extensive navigation, sumptuous 
buildings, their vast sums at interest, and stocks in trade, yield to them.'" 

At the hospitable board of James Pitts and Elizabeth Bowdoin 
must often have been seen the form of Samuel Adams, the father of 
the Revolution, whose portrait, by Copley, and whose statues at Wash- 
ington and Boston are much admired. There was. through all their 
lives, the most cordial friendship between the Pitts and that old hero. 
and. on page 262. Vol. XIV. of the Xew Eng. Gen. Reg., you will find 
among the subscribers to pay his debts, the names of Hon. James 
Pitts and Hon. James Bowdoin, each £60. Youug James Pitts. Rich- 
ard Dana. Samuel Dexter. Dr. Joseph Warren John Erving and John 
Hancock contributed also. What a company 1 J do not know how soon 
Mr. Pitts entered into public life, nor what inferior places of trust and 
responsibility he filled before being elected to the highest in the gift of 



the people, that of a member of the Council. Under the charter of the 
Massachusetts Colon\-. the Governor was appointed by the British 
King, and the people elected a House of Representatives — only men 
of property — and. up to 1764, only members of some Christian church 
could vote : so that three-quarters of the community was excluded, 
and the better elements of societ}' controlled these elections. This 
annual election was an important day in old Boston. The church 
members and property owners met in a body, and before voting, had 
divine service and a sermon from some minister selected by the Select- 
men, of Boston, a body of seven men. to whom the affairs of the city 
were committed. At the annual meeting in May, 1775, after the King 
and Parliament had legislated out of office the old Council and Judges 
of the colony. Samuel Langdon. the President of Harvard University, 
preached the annual sermon from the text : •• And I will restore the 
Judges as at the first, and thy Councilors as at the beginning : after- 
ward thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city." 
The House of Representatives, elected directly by the people, sitting 
with the last Council, elected a new Council, which was limited to 
tweuty -eight, and these two houses and the Governor constituted the 
Government for the colony as a unit, the Governor having the right to 
veto or negative the election of any Councilor. These twenty-eight 
Councilors were to the State what the United States' Senate is to the 
United States, or the House of Lords is to England. 

From May, 1634. to August, 1774. these two houses sat apart, and 
were co-ordinate and co-equal branches, the assent of both being 
necessary to make a law. 

To this high position in the State. Mr. Pitts and his brothers-in-law 
Bowdoin and Thomas Flucker. were, for many years, annually elected by 
the House of Representatives and the outgoing Council, and for several 
years it chanced that one of the twenty-eight was Judge Gamaliel Brad- 
ford.* grand-father to Elizabeth Bradford Merrill. The first prominent 



*Hon. Gamaliel Bradford was a great-grandson of William B., second 
Governor of Plymouth Colony. He shared largely in all the duties of the 
public offices iii that town. He was a friend of education, and did much 
toward the maintenance and improvement of the public schools. He for 
several years represented the town in the Legislature, and during the trying 
period from 1764 to 1770. was a member of the Executive Council. He was 
for many years Judge of the County Court. He also held command of the 
company of militia in his native town. and. about 1750, was raised to the com- 
mand of the regiment with the rank of Colonel. In his declining years, he 
witnessed with patriotic ardor the uprising of the Sons of Liberty, and, though 
his heart was with them, he was unable by active exertion to assist in the 
crowning glories of true-born freemen. He died in Duxbury, April 24, 1778, 
havin? nearly reached his seventy-fourth year. (TTinson's Hist, of Dtixbruy. 
page 148 ; Mass. Hist. Col.. Third Series, "I, 202). 



notice of James Pitts, I have found, was in 1 760. Gov. Pownall left Bos- 
ton for the governorship of South Carolina in March, 1760. At a full 
town meeting an address was unanimousl}' voted him, in which the 
inhabitants acknowledged their great obligations to him ; on the 
17th of May a committee waited on him with the address, among 
whom was James Pitts. I find the next notice of him in Brad- 
ford's Mass., p. 452. The stamp act which had excited the people 
of New England almost to frenzy, and had nearly brought on a 
revolution in fact, as it did in spirit, was repealed by the King, and 
Parliament, on the 18th of March, 1766. On the 7th of June, 1766, the 
Council adopted an eloquent address of congratulation to Gov. Ber- 
nard, and it was presented by Messrs. Brattle, Gamaliel Bradford, 
James Pitts, Thomas Flucker * and Powell. 

On the 27th of October, 1768, an address was signed by the Coun- 
cil, to Gen. Gage, reminding him that the people had been misrepre- 
sented ; that the disorders in the town had been greatly magnified, and 
spoke of his candor, generosity and justice, as a safeguard to counter- 
act the misrepresentations which had been made by the enemies of the 
town. They endeavored to convince him that there was no occasion 
for so great a number of troops in the place, and hoped he would have 
them removed to the castle. This was signed, among others, by James 
Pitts, Samuel Dexter, James Bowdoin and Gamaliel Bradford. 

Gen. Gage thanked them for the honor done him, but declined to 
remove the troops, which led to constant troubles with the people, 
and, in 1769, the Council and House refused to do any public business 
so long as the troops were there, stationed within reach of their halls, 
upon which Gov. Bernard adjourned them to meet at Cambridge ; and 
then they refused to proceed to business at Cambridge, because their 
removal was illegal ; but, in June, they proceeded to business there, 
under protest, and, on the 27th, they petitioned the King for his 
removal. From 1760 till the final rupture with England, Mr. Pitts was 
annually elected to the Council, and sat as a law-maker and Executive 
oflEicer in the halls of Harvard University, where he had for four years 
been a pupil. 

More literally true, perhaps, than was intended, were the words of 
the orator, John Quincy Adams, to the schoolboys of Boston, in Fan- 



* Thomas Flucker married Judith Bowdoin in 1744. the only full sister of 
Mrs. Pitts. He Avas, in 1774, Secretary of the Province, and a Mandamus 
Councilor— sided with the loyalists, went to London and died there in 1783. 
His dau^-hter Lucy married Maj. Gen. Henry Knox, who was Secretary of War 
from 1785 to 1795. Drake says': " She was a lady, who, after the Revolution, 
became a principal ornament of the first circle of America." 



9 

euil Hall, in 1826, when he said : "It was by the midnight lamps of 
" Harvard Hall that were conceived and matured, as it was within 
" these hallowed walls that were first resounded the accents of that 
" Independence which is now canonized in the memor}' of those by 
" whom it was proclaimed."* 

Robert C. Winthrop, in his life of Bowdoin, says : " It would not 
be easy to overstate the importance to the ultimate success of Ameri- 
can liberty and independence, of the course pursued by the Council 
and House of Representatives of Massachusetts, during the greater 
part of this period — a controversy, beginning as early as 1757, and 
which lasted till the final independence. Indeed, if any one would 
fully understand the rise and progress of Revolutionary principles on 
this continent ; if he would understand the arbitrary and tyrannical 
doctrines which were asserted by the British ministry' , and the prompt 
resistance and powerful refutation which they met at the hands of our 
New England patriots, he must read what are called The Massachusetts 
State Papers, containing the messages of the Governor to the Legisla- 
ture, and the answers of the two branches of the Legislature to the 
Governor. He will find here almost all the great principles and ques- 
tions of that momentous controversy. Trial b}'^ Jury, Regulation of 
Trade, Taxation without Representation, the Stamp Act, the Tea Tax 
and the rest, stated and argued with unsurpassed ability and spirit.'' 
Daniel Webster, in his oration at Bunker Hill, speaks of these State 
papers with equal praise, as did Chatham and Burke, in England 
Gov. Hutchinson says that Bowdoin, as Chairman of the Committea in 
the Council, was without a rival, and, being united in principles with 
the leading men in the House, measures were concerted between him 
and them, and from this time the Council, in scarcely' any instance, 
disagreed with the House. Bowdoin was indeed the bright particular 
star ih those dark days, but his brother, James Pitts, in the Council, 
and his nephew, John Pitts, in the House, were always backing and 
supporting him. 

During all the ten years of continual warfare between the King and 
his ministers, and Governors and officers, on the one side, and the 
Council and Assembly of Massachusetts, and the people, on the other 



*I had the good fortune to have seen and heard John Quincy Adams, " the 
old man eloquent," in his seventy-seventh year, in 1843. A public reception 
was given him at Aul)urn, N. Y. A committee, of which Gov. SeWard, Judge 
Conkling and my uncle, Stephen A. Goodwin, were members, escorted him from 
Rochester, and gave him a public reception, when Gov. Seward welcomed him 
in an impressive speech, and the old orator made a happy response 



10 

side, James Pitts was inflexibly on the side of the people and liberty, 
and against the royal prerogative. This battle was peculiarly hard in 
the Council, for there the King had a stronger party than in the House. 
The town meetings and the House of Representatives were always for 
American liberty and against ever}' usurpation of the crown ; but the 
Grovernor and Lieutenant Grovernor were appointed directly by the 
crown, and the Governor had a right to veto or negative the election 
of a Councilor — a right which he exercised nearly every year, and the 
Councilors, being generally men of age and wealth or rank were nat- 
urally conservative. 

Bernard and Hutchinson often contended that the Council was 
peculiarly intended to assist the crown, and all the influences of 
royal power tended to incline the Council to uphold the Govern- 
ment, but Mr. Pitts was always on the side of the people of Massa- 
chusetts. 

A most notable instance of this occurred at the time when Samuel 
Adams and a committee of citizens demanded from Gov. Hutchinson 
the removal of the troops from Boston in 1770. The military troops 
stationed at Boston were a continual fret to the people. Horse-racing 
on the common by the soldiers, on Sunday, and military parades in the 
streets, gi'ated on the feelings of a church-going people ; personal quar- 
rels and brawls were continually taking place, and finally the massacre 
on King street threw the people into a ferment of passion.* At a town 

*The followhig incident from Andrews' letters will illustrate the daily ex- 
perience of those days when Boston was possessed by British soldiers: 

"August 1, 1774. A few days since fifteen otRcers dined at a house toward 
New Boston, improved by one of the Miss Erskine.s, when toward evening they 
committed all manner of indecencies, and at dusk they began to break up and 
go off two or three at a time, insulting people as they passed the streets. Five 
of them sallied ont with their cutlasses drawn and met Mr. Alva Hunt, a well- 
built, nervous fellow, with liis wife, the latter of whom they began to abuse, at 
which the husband, with a hickory walking-stick, aimed a blow at ye officers 
head and laid it open, and had he 'not been prevented by ye inhabitants from 
repeating the stroke he must have demolished him, upoii which they laid about 
with their weapons and cleared the street of all the inhabitants save Samuel 
Jarvis, Samuel Pitts, one Fullerton, Ilimt and a negro fellow, each of wiiom 
disarmed one without hurting them, save tiie negro, who knocked his down 
with a billet of wood that he took from a ]iile that lay in the street. Samuel 
Pitts only of the inhabitants got wounded in the affray, having parried off 
several of their blows with his cane, one stroke in particulav aimed at him must 
inevitably have layed his skull open wliich he had not opportunity to guard 
against, having two upon him at once, but fortunately for him he was stand- 
ing against a fence and ye cutlass struck against it just above his head and 
retarded the stroke, which was immediately repeated across his belly, when he 
received it upon his left hand, whereby his knuckles are split open and he is 
likely to loose the use of two or three fingers, etc. (Mass. His. Pro., 1864-65, 
p. 322.) 

" Samuel Pitts was one of the Cadet Company. Augu.st 16, 1774, it agrees 
to disband. 



11 

meeting, Samuel Adams and a large committee were appointed to wait on 
Gov. Hutchinson and the Council, and demand the removal of the troops. 
The committee (Frothhigham's Warren, p. 143), about 4 o'clock, 
repaired to the Council chamber. It was a room respectable in size, 
and not without ornament or historic memorials. On its walls were 
representations of the two elements, now in conflict, of the absolutism 
that was passing away, in full-length portraits of Charles II and James 
II, robed in the ro3'al ermine, and of a republicanism that had grown 
robust and self-reliant, in the heads of Endicott, and Winthrop, and 
Bradstreet, and Belcher. Around a long table were seated the Lieu- 
tenant Governor and the members of the Council, with the militar}^ 
officers ; the scrupulous and sumptuous costumes of civilians in author- 
ity — gold and silver lace, scarlet cloaks and large wigs, mingling with 
the brilliant uniforms of the British Army and Navy. Into such im- 
posing presence was now ushered the plainly attired committee of the 
town. At this time, the Grovernor, a portion of the Council, the mili- 
tary officers, the Secretary of the Province, and other officials in the 
Town House, were sternly resolved to refuse compliance with the de- 
mand of the people. Adams remarked at length on the illegality of 
quartering troops on the inhabitants in times of peace, and without the 
consent of the Legislature ; adverted with warmth to the late tragedy ; 
painted the misery in which the town would be involved if the troops 
were suffered to remain, and urged the necessity of an immediate com- 
pliance with the vote of the people. The Governor, in a brief reply, 
defended both the legality and necessity of the troops, and asserted 
that they were not subject to his authority. Adams again rose, and 
attention was riveted on him as he paused, and gave a searching look 
at Hutchinson. The famous picture by Copley, in Faneuil Hall, rep- 
resents Adams as he appeared at this moment. Adams made another 
impassioned appeal, and the committee retired. Now came the con- 
troversy between the Governor and Col. Dairy mple, and the officers 
and the crown officials, and many members of the Council, on the one 



"August 17. Yesterday a committee from the Cadet Company waited upon 
His Excellency at Salem, consisting of Gaveut Johomot. Foster and Samuel 
Pitts, attended hy the company servant bearing the standard. He received 
them and their address with politeness, but was somewhat nettled at the con- 
tents, as his answer evidently shows, being very laconic and expressive of cha- 
grin and disappointment. He accepted their'color, and told them Mr. Han- 
cock had used him ill by personally affronting him, and that he would not 
receive an affront from any man in the province, and had he previously known 
their intentions, should "have disbanded them himself. (Mass. Hist. Pro., 
1864-65, pp. 334, 843.") 



12 

side, and Messrs. Tyler, James Pitts and Samuel Dexter,* on the other. 
We have it, in Gov. Hutchinson's own letter of March 18, 1770, to Sir 
Francis Bernard : " If the Council would have joined me and encour- 
aged the people to wait until there could be an order from Gen. Gage, 
they might have been appeased ; but instead of that, the major part of 
them encouraged them in their demand, and, upon the representations 

made of the state of the people by Tyler, backed by S , Pitts and 

Dexter, Col. Dairy m pie told them he would remove the Twenty-ninth 
Regiment till he could hear from the General. I wished to have been 
clear of the Council in the afternoon, but it was not possible." 

The result was the removal of the troops from Boston to Castle 
William, and, without detracting from the triumph of Samuel Adams 
and his committee, it is but just to give some unqualified praise for 
that great triumph to James Pitts and Samuel Dexter, who had a much 
harder contest than did Adams. He was the spokesman of thousands 
of incensed, and most of them irresponsible, citizens ; while Pitts and 
Dexter had to fight their own class, as well as the army officers, the 
Governor and Secretary, and the silent influence of George III and his 
almost omnipotent Parliament and ministry. In 1817, Adams wrote 
that this scene deserved to be painted as much as the surrender of 
Burgoyne. He describes " Gov. Hutchinson at the head of the Coun- 
cil table, Col. Dalrymple, as Commander-in-Chief of the King's troops, 
seated at his side. Eiglit and twenty Councilors must be painted, all 
seated at the Council board. Let me see — what costume — large white 
wigs, English scarlet-cloth cloaks, some of them with gold lace ; hats 
on the table before them, or under the table beneath them. Before 
these illustrious personages appeared Samuel Adams, a member of the 
House of Representatives, and their Clerk, now at the head of the com- 
mittee of the great assembly at the Old South Church." 

The patriots considered this a great civic triumph, and the English 
Government was angry. Encomiums from lovers of liberty were cop- 
ied into the Boston papers like these : 

Your Bostonians shine with renewed luster. 

So much wisdom and virtue as hath been conspicuous in Bostonians will 
not go unrewarded. 

* Samuel Dexter (b. 1726 d. 1810, was son of Rev. Samuel D., b. 1700 d. 
1755, and Catherine Hears, b. 1701 d. 1797. Rev, Samuel D. was son of John 
D., of Maiden, and Winnifred Sprague. Samuel, the Councilor, was a mer- 
chant of Boston, married to Hannah Sigourney. He spent the greater part of 
his life in retirement, in literary, social and charitable work, and founded the 
Dexter Lecturesluii for Biblical Criticism at Harvard. His greatest gift to the 
v,'orld was his son Samuel, b. 1761 d. 1816, of whom John Adams said in a let- 
ter to Vankerkemp, May 26, 1816: "I liave lost the ablest friend I had on earth 
in Mr. Dexter." 



13 

The noble conduct of the representatives, selectmen and principal mer- 
chants of Boston in defending and supporting the rights of America and the 
British Constitution cannot fail to excite love and gratitude in the heart of 
every worthy person in the British Empire. They discover a dignity of soul 
Avorthy the human mind, which is the true glory of man, and merits the 
applause of all rational beings. Their names will shine unsullied in the 
bright records of fame to the latest ages, and unborn millions will rise up and 
call them blessed. 

In September, 1770, when Hutchinson gave up the command of the 
Castle William to Col. Dalrymple by command of the King, thus ex- 
pressly violating the charter, which provided that the castle and 
forts should be in command of the Grovernor, he called the Coun- 
cil together to inform them secretly that he was about soon to do so. 
He saj^s : " They were all struck when they heard the order. Pitts said 
perhaps it was executed already. I made no reply." The Council 
made an effort to obtain an authentic copy of the Kings order, in order 
to vindicate their charter rights, but in vain. The Council then pre- 
pared a long and able report, together with a full statement of the 
seizure of the castle, and other infringements on the public liberties. 

This slight incident, Mr. Pitts being the onl}' member mentioned by 
Gov. Hutchinson, shows that at that early day, in 1770, he was alive to 
the encroachments of the crown, and quick to oppose and resist 
them. (See Wells' Life of S. Adams, Vol. I, p. 356.) 

An examination of the Massachusetts Records will show Mr. Pitts 
pursuing the same line of action through all the troubles of the Revo- 
lution to the time of his death in 1776. generally working in perfect 
harmony with Bovvdoin and Dexter and Winthrop, though sometimes 
without them, for they were sometimes kept out of the Council b}' the 
veto of the Governor. 

The mere fact of being annually elected by the House and the 
old Council through all those times which tried men's souls, is ample 
evidence of the estimation in which he was held by Boston ; but there 
is a special indorsement of him which bears the name of one second 
only to Washington in the firmament of Western glor}^ — tlie greatest 
of Bostonians — Benjamin Franklin. Gov. Hutchinson had pretended 
to send letters to England advocating the liberties of Americans, and 
had sent other letters, privately, quite opposed to them, and in favor of 
abridging those liberties. These letters had been obtained bj^ Sir John 
Temple,* who married Gov. Bowdoin's daughter, and given to Franklin 

*John Temple, born at East Boston, 1731; married Elizabeth Bowdoin, only 
daughter of Gov. James Bowdoin, 1767. He was an ardent patriot, and, after 
the war, on the death of Sir Richard Temple, inherited the Temple estates in 



14 

in a wa}^ that precluded him from acknowledging it, or from making 
public use of them, but to show the patriots what dangers they must 
know of and battle against, Franklin sent these letters to Thomas 
Gushing, the speaker of the House, with a letter, in the early part of 
1773, a copy of which T find in John Adams, Vol. I, p. 647. 

London, 177- 
SiR : I embrace this opportunity to acquaint you that there is latelj^ fallen 
into my hands part of a correspondence that I have reason to believe laid the 
foundation of most if not all our present grievances. I am not at liberty to 
tell through what channel I received it, but I am allowed to let it be seen by 
some men of worth in the province for their satisfaction. I wish I was at lib- 
erty to make the letters public, but as I am not I can allow them to be seen 
b}^ yourself, by Messrs. Bowdoin & Pitts, of the Council, and Dr. Chauncy, 
Cooper and Winthrop, etc. 

What a distinction ! to be tiusted and honored by Benjamin 
Franklin as one of the ' six men of worth in the province !" 

The juxtaposition of names, Bowdoin, Pitts and Winthrop, by 
Franklin, reminds me that President John Adams, scarcely, if at all, 
inferior to Franklin in the position he holds in the world's history, 
testified his appreciation of the Bowdoin, Winthrop and Pitts families 
on many occasions. 

Thus he wrote his wife : 

Phil., May 27, 1776. 

A Governor «fe Lieut. Gov. I hope will be chosen, & the Constitution a 
little more fixed. I hope Mr. Bowdoin will be Gov. if his health will permit, 
& Dr. Winthrop Lieut. Gov. These are wise, learned & prudent men. The 
first has a great fortune & wealthy connections. The other has the advantage 
of a name and family which is much reverenced, besides his personal abilities 
and virtues, which are very great. 

On the 24th of June, 1776, he wrote to William Tudor : " I agree 
with you in your hopes that Massachusetts Jwill proceed to complete 
her Grovernment. Mr. Bowdoin or Dr. Winthrop, I hope, will be 
chosen Governor." 

See also his letter to Washington, June, 1775, post, commending 
him especially to Bowdoin, Winthrop and Pitts among others. 

To Francis Dana, he writes, June 12, 1776 : "I think the Province 
never had so fair a representation, or so respectable a House or Board. 

England, and became Eighth Baronet. He was son of Robert Temple, of Ten 
Hills, and Mehitable Nelson. (See New En g. Reg., Vol. X, p. 78.) He died 
in New York, 1793, and was buried in Trinity Churchyard. In Harper's 
Magazine, Vol. LIII, page 874, there is a copy of his memorial tablet in Trinity 
Chapel. His eldest son became Sir Grenville Temple, Ninth Baronet. His 
oldest daughter, Elizabeth Bowdoin Temple, married Thomas Lindall Win- 
throp, and their youngest child is Robert C. Winthrop. 



15 

You have a great number of ingenious, able men in each." This was 
when Bowdoin was President of the Council, with the authority de 
facto of a Governor, and when Dr. Winthrop was in the Council, and 
John Pitts in the House, liis father having died in Januar3^ 

In 1814, when in liis eightieth year, in a letter to John Taylor, 
while commenting pla3'fully upon his love of his own family, he says : 
" I will confess to you I would not exchange my line of ancestors for 
that of Gruelph's, or Bowdoin's, or Carter's, or Winthrop's." 

The personal affection for Dr. Winthrop, by Franklin, was beauti- 
fuU}- expressed by him in a letter to Dr. Cooper, October 27, 1799 : 
"Our excellent Mr. Winthrop, I see, is gone. He was one of those old 
friends for the sake of whose societj' I wished to return and spend the 
remnant of my days in New p]ngland. A few more such deaths will 
make me a stranger in my own country." 



THE TEA PARTY. 

The next picture I shall present will be of James Pitts, the coun- 
cilor, and his three sons — John, Samuel and Lendall. John had been 
elected in May, 1773, a Selectman, with John Hancock, John Scollay, 
Timothy Newell, Thomas Marshall, Samuel Austin and Oliver Wen- 
dell, all of whom were re-elected in 1774 and 1775. 

The duties of a Selectman were very trying in those da3S. Froth- 
ingham says (Siege. 27), " the labors of the town officers at this time, 
were arduous and important. At a crisis when so much depended on 
the good order of the town, their services were required to be unusu- 
ally' energetic and judicious.'" 

Samuel Pitts was an officer of the cadets, the finest military' com- 
pany in the country, commanded by Col. Hancock, and described by 
Andrews as equal in drill and appearance to any of the regular arm}'. 

Lendall Pitts, the Benjamin of the flock, the youngest of six sons, 
had yet his spurs to win, and so won them in one night's work, as 
to send his name riding down the avenues of time, with more lus- 
trous notice than can ever follow his father's quarter of a century of 
patriotic service. 

The famous Tea Act was passed and became a law on the 1 0th of 
Ma}^ 1773. It was a deliberate attempt to establish the right of Par- 
liament to tax America, and give the East India Company the monop- 
oly of the colonial market. 

The determination of the Americans not to paj- a tax levied by a 
body in which they were not represented, was as fixed as the purpose 
of the King to collect the duty on tea. The scheme suddenly roused 
more indignation than had been created by the Stamp Act. All 
America was in a flame. The mighty surge of passion plainly meant 
resistance. There was no peaceable mode of obtaining redress in such 
cases as we have now in our Federal courts. The only way, then, to 
defeat an odious scheme to collect an illegal tax, was to follow the 



17 

methods of popular demonstration, which had long been customary 
in England, and thus render the law inoperative. 

The tea was shipped to America. The Boston patriots held great 
and excited public meetings in Faneuil Hall, and adopted resolutions 
similiar to those already passed at Philadelphia, to resist the landing 
of the tea. 

John Pitts was a member of the committee to urge the consignees 
and commissioners to resign, and all the public meetings, to be 
legal, had to be called by him and his fellow-Selectmen. His three 
associates on that committee were Samuel Adams, John Hancock and 
Joseph Warren. Wells says this committee hunted for the younger 
Hutchinsons, who were consignees at Boston, and were told they had 
gone to Milton ; they went to Milton, and were told they had gone 
back to Boston ; they rode back to Boston, and learned they had gone 
to Milton again ; and there they went again, and obtained an unsatis- 
factory answer, and so reported at the great town meeting at Faneuil 
Hall. 

For days and weeks, earnest and excited meetings were held be- 
tween patriots and loyalists^between Councilors and Representatives 
— between army and navy officers — between commissioners and con- 
signees, to devise some means to send back the tea without forfeiting 
the ships ; and by secret clubs, cadets and Sons of Liberty to guard 
the ships, the docks and the crews, and to see to it that the symbol of 
slaverj' should not touch Boston soil. 

This continued from October to December 16, 1773, gathering in 
excitement every day and night, when the final grapple occurred in 
the Council Chamber — then in the Old South Church, and lastly at 
Griffin's wharf 

Leading patriots, in all parts of America, had been looking with 
anxiety for fear that Boston would now fail in the presence of an arm3^ 
and navy and a garrisoned fort. The city was filled with people from 
a radius of twenty miles. As R. C. Winthrop said at the Centennial 
at Boston, in 1873 : "It became a simple question which should go 
under, British tea or American liberty. " 

These exciting meetings and discussions had been held so long, 
that the ver}' last day had arrived on which the ships could stay with- 
out forfeitui'e. The Grovernor refused a clearance, and the con- 
signees refused to resign. 

At this point, December 16, 1773, let us pause a moment to notice 
the peculiar combination of circumstances which entitle the Pitts fam- 



18 

ily to the gratitude of all their descendants, and all lovers of American 
independence. 

It is remarkable that so many of the Massachusetts patriots were 
so fortunate as to be well repeated in their sons. Wealth, influence 
and power, as a rule, entail upon their children, enervated natures, 
social luxury and loss of noble aspirations. But there were excep- 
tions among the Boston fathers. 

John Adams, the Colossus of the Congress of 1776, lived to see his 
equally gifted son, John Quincy, crowned with civil, political and lite- 
rary honors. 

James Bowdoin lived to see his son an active member of the Mas- 
sachusetts Convention of 1788, over which he himself was President, 
and which ratified the adoption of the Federal Constitution — fit begin- 
ning of a career which ended by endowing the college which bears his 
name — a name whose glory was merged, in the last generation, in that 
of Gov. Thomas Lindall Winthrop, and has stood like an epitome of 
fame in the Centennial orations at Boston, at Bunker Hill and York- 
town, in the still more renowned presence of his son, Robert C. Win- 
throp, the great-grandson of Grov. Bowdoin. 

Samuel Dexter lived to see his son, Samuel, in the Cabinet of Pres- 
ident John Adams, and who received the highest encomiums of Judge 
Story and Daniel Webster, as the giant of the New England bar— a 
reputation kept conspicuous to this da}- by Franklin Dexter, in the third 
and Wirt Dexter in the fourth generation, from the Councilor of 1773. 

Richai'd Dana, dying in 1772, lived to see his son Francis give prom- 
ise of the first-class patriot who became Adams' right hand man in his 
foreign ministry, and to hand down a name that has been honored and 
famous for four generations, since. 

Gov. Increase Sumner was father of Gen. William H. Sumner, a 
member of the Massachusetts House from 1808 to 1819. 

Cushing's blood and brains have helped to fill and adorn the Su- 
preme Courts of Massachusetts and the United States. 

Col. Prescott, whose magnificent statue graces the brow of Bunker 
Hill on the spot where his bodily but inspired presence stood on the 
17th of June, 1775, was the father of a great Judge and Jurist, and 
the grandsire of the illustrious historian. 

John Lowell, the patriot lawyer, was followed by two distinguished 
sons, John and Charles, and his grandson, James Russell Lowell roused 
the English reading world as by an electric shock in his " Present 
Crisis," then lulled them to summer luxury, or taught them how to 



19 

master the Fortress of Selfishness in the vision of Sir Lunfall, and 
to-day represents America at the Court of St. James. 

And still this I'oll of honor could be largely extended. But it was 
the peculiar fortune of James Pitts alone, of all those great patriots, 
to labor in that grandest revolution of the ages iv!th his own sons hy 
Jiis side. 

It was the tender and loving privilege of John, Samuel and Lendall 
Pitts to walk those paths whose failure led to the scaffold, the axe or the 
gallows, and whose success led to liberty, freedom and glory, with heart- 
beats keeping time to those of their patriot father. 

When the great contest over the tea tax culminated — when the ships 
laden with the crucial test were in the harbor so long that they must 
be unladen, or forfeited, or pass into the possession of the navy and 
army — while Castle William, with its shotted guns, frowned upon their 
beloved, but doomed city — when Gov. Hutchinson met the Massa- 
chusetts Council, and begged their aid on behalf of the King and Par- 
liament — it was then that the cause of the colonies was urged, defended 
and insisted upon by five men, recorded by Frothingham in his Life of 
Joseph Warren, page 259, as James Bowdoin, James Pitts, Samuel 
Dexter, Artemus Ward and John Winthrop. 

James Pitts was the oldest of these five patriots, and his age and 
inflexible temper, his great wealth and long experience, gave his opin- 
ions and arguments a force which Gov. Hutchinson would scarcely have 
yielded to any other man in Boston. No one knew Mr. Pitts better 
than Gov. Hutchinson. They were born about the same time, one in 
1711, the other in 1712, and both graduated at Harvard. While Sam- 
uel and John Adams, Joseph Warren and Robert Treat Paine had to 
struggle for their dail}- bread, Pitts was the owner and manager of a 
vast foreign trade in his own ships. Chosen annually for many years 
by the General Court as a member of the Council, his wealth, his 
business interests, his university and professional acquaintances 
added weight to his inflexible temper and natural talents. Nor 
was this all. The inevitable tendency of great wealth is to make men 
conservative and selfish, but this tendency was more than counter- 
balanced in his case by having such a wife as Elizabeth Bowdoin. 
The Huguenot blood, which would not permit her grandfather to enjoy 
his comfortable profession in France in slavery, mingled with the inde- 
pendent blood of the Puritan Portages and Lyndes of New England 
developed in her a character fit for the sister of the chiefest patriot in 
Boston's aristocracy, and the King's Council — fitter still for the wife 



20 

of an inflexible, determined patriot in the Council, in the market- 
place, wharves, and banks of Boston — and fittest of all for the mother 
of liberty-loving, liberty-working sons. 

The conservatism — the age — the natural desire for ease — the pres- 
ent comforts which tend to procrastinate the days of trial — were all 
overcome by the youthful impetuosity of five grown-up bo^'S — all Sons 
of Liberty, all members of the patriot clubs. Another fact, which 
made James Pitts so conspicuous a character, at this time — December 
1773^ — may have been that the old Councilor was gathering wisdom 
and sympathy from the bereavements which, at some time, come to 
all. The old tomb, No. 7, in the rear of the chancel of King's Chapel, 
nearly opposite the present Parker House, had been opened in Octo- 
ber, 1771, for the loving wife and mother of his children ; in 1769, ten 
years after the beginning of the long and weary contest for Constitu- 
tional liberty, he lost his son and partner, Thomas, at the age of twen- 
ty-six ; and in 1772, his son and namesake, James, died in the Bermudas, 
aged thirty. Surel}', if there was a character in Boston fitted by birth, 
education, wealth, social connections, the heritage and reflex influence 
of noble sons, and by the universal sympathy of men, toward bereave- 
ment, it was James Pitts, the patriot Councilor, in December, 1773. 
I cannot but think that it was, in some part, his influence over his old 
friends. Govs. Bernard and Hutchinson, and the hospitable and 
friendly intercourse which he had held with Gov. Gage, which kept 
back those men from following out the blood}^ and arbitrary instruc- 
tions of Lord Dartmouth and George III ; from seizing and carr3ang 
to the Tower of London ; or from beheading or hanging the leaders of 
the Revolution, and precipitating a conflict which would have laid Bos- 
ton in ashes and her streets in blood, before any union of the colonies 
or concert of action could have been perfected. Time to bring 
together the discordant elements of the thirteen colonies, into a union 
which just barely accomplished victory, was all important to their 
success. 

And now, (ni the 16th day of December, 1773, this remarkable 
scene appeared. While James Pitts, the old Councilor, backed by his 
younger brothers, Bowdoin, Dexter, Ward and Winthrop, was battling 
for his country against Gov. Hutchinson and the loyal members of the 
Council in their chamber over Faneuil Hall ; and while John Pitts, a 
Selectman, and one of the committee to cope with the consignees and 
commissioners, was one of the town officers presiding over the greatest 
mass-meeting ever yet seen at the Old South Church, the young Len- 



21 

dall was waiting, in war-paint and tomahawk, for tlie time when Sam- 
uel Adams solemnly pronounced, " This meeting can do nothing more 
to save the country." His war-whoop, with that of the other leaders 
of the disguised Indians, thrilled an audience whose nerves had been 
excited to the last tension. Hewes, one of the party, says, " Pitts, who 
was quite a military man, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 
forces then and there assembled." In orderly' and stern array, they 
marched to the music of a fife to the guarded ships, while thousands of 
patriots, including Hancock and Samuel Pitts and the other Cadets, kept 
silent watch for three long hours, while the immortal band, though under 
the guns of an ehem}', who could at any moment have blown them to 
atoms, were emptying into the sea the offensive object which Greorge 
III and his obsequious Parliament had sent to test and prove the sub- 
jection of America to their imperial power. I shall not go into the 
details of the affair, for the story is graphicall}' told by Elliot, Hewes, 
Bancroft, Lossing, Frothingham, Hutchinson and other historians. 

It is, perhaps, worthy of mention, that the secret act of his younger 
brother, Lendall, was openly indorsed, and all its consequences as- 
sumed by his oldest brother, the honored patriot, John. About a week 
after the tea-party, when it was currently supposed that all who took 
part in that daring performance would be arrested if discovered, and 
executed for treason, the Committee of Correspondence passed the fol- 
lowing resolution : 

That the subscribers do engage to exert oiu- utmost influence to support and 
vindicate each other, and any person or persons who may be likely to suffer for 
any noble efforts they may have made to save their country by defeating the 
operations of the British Parliament expressly designed to extort a revenue 
from the colonies against their consent. 

Samuel Adams, John Pitts, Robert Pierpont, Oliver Wendell, Thomas 
Young, William Cooper, William Powell, William Molineaux, Benjamin 
Church, Joseph Greenleaf, Capt. John Bradford, Nathan Appleton, John 
Sweetzer, William Greenleaf, Deacon Boynton. 

Boston, December 24, 1773. 

Here was a pledge made among a plain, democratic committee of 
the people, for mutual protection at this perilous crisis against the 
most powerful nation in the world, whose King and Parliament they 
had defied in the cause of justice and humanity. (Life of S. Adams, 
Vol. II, p. 126.) 

The effect of this act was wonderful on both sides of the Atlantic. 
Samuel Adams said, " You cannot imagine the height of joy that 
sparkles in the eyes and animates the countenances as well as the 
hearts of all we meet on this occasion." 



22 

Johu Adams said. ■■ This is the most magnificent movement of all 
There is a dignity, a majesty, a sublimity, in this last etibrt of the pat- 
riots that I greatly admire. This destruction of the tea is so bold and 
it must have so important consequences and so lasting that I cannot 
but consider it an epoch in history.'" In New York. Philadelphia and 
Charleston the inhabitants were jubilant. Gov. Hutchinson declared 
'• it had created a new union among the patriots." 

Tn another place. Johu Adams said. •• The destruction of the tea 
was one of those events, rare in the life of nations, which, ocurring iu 
a peculiar state of public opinion, serve to wrest public aflairs from the 
control of men. however wise or great, and cast them into the irresisti- 
ble cuiTcnt of ideas." 

Wells calls it •• the great crowning act of the Revolution prior to 
the commencement of hostilities." 

THE LAST PROVINCIAL COrXCIL OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

The Grovernor. Council and Representatives constituted the Gov- 
ernment for the colony from 1634. until 1774. On the 14th of March, 
1774. George the IU sent a note to Lord North, in which he urged an 
alteration of the charter of Massachusetts, and remarked that Lord 
Dartmouth was very firm in its expediency. 

Lord North introduced a bill • to purge the constitution of all its 
crudities, and give a degree of strength and spirit to the civil magis- 
tracy, and to the executive power. There was much deliberation in 
the Cabinet relative to the Council, Lord Mansfield urging that the 
nomination of the members ought to be vested in the crown. 

On the 31st of March, the Boston Port Bill became a law, which 
was intended to, and did for some years, destroy the business of that 
city. On the 15th of April, a bill was introduced for vesting the nom- 
ination of the Councilors in the crown ; took all executive power 
from the House : Judges were to be appointed by the Governor, and 
juries by the Sheriff ; town meetings could only be called by the Gov. 
ernor. and could discuss topics specified by him in the call. It passed 
on the 6th of May to the great satisfaction of the King who assented 
to it on the 20th of May. and it went into efiect at once, and the Pro- 
vincial Council of Massachusetts ceased to have any legal existence. 

A protest in the House of Lords objected that this act invested 
the Governor and Council with powers with which the British consti- 
tution had not trusted His Majesty and his Privy Council, and that the 
lives, liberties and properties of the subject were put into their hands 
without control. 



23 

A measure more subversive of freedom, says Earl Russell (Life of 
Fox. I, 63). more coutrary to all coastitutional principles, and more 
likely to excite America against imperial authority could not well be 
formed. 

The magnificent appeals of Chatham, Shelburne. Camden, BaiT^ and 
others, who contended that America was only fighting for their constitu- 
tional rights, were all lost in the frenzy of indignation which fired the 
English heart on account of the destruction of their tea. 

The condemnation of this and the Port Bill in the colonies was 
indignant and universal. In Virginia. George Washington presided 
over a meeting of the freeholders of Fairfax County, which resolved 
that unless the cruel measures were counteracted, the end would be the 
ruin of the colonies. 

Hutchinson was called to England, and Gen. Gage was appointed 
Governor of Massachusetts. He landed May 19, and on the motion of 
James Pitts, the Council, so soon to be superseded, moved an address to 
him of a character to remove any unfavorable impression which report 
might have created as to the character and disposition of the inhabit- 
ants. They received him with military salutes, and gave him a grand 
banquet at Faueuil Hall. 

Gov. Hutchinson sailed for England June 1. and arrived July 1. 

[Extracts from the journal of Thomas Hutchinson, Governor of 

Massachusetts.] 

1st July, 1774. Received a card from Lord Dartmouth, desuing to see me 

at his house before one o'clock. I went soon after twelve ; and, after near an 

hour's conversation, his lordship proposed mtroducing me immediately to 

the King. 

** * » * * * * * » 

King. Nothing could be more cruel than the treatment you met with in 
hetraving your private letters. (The King, turning to Lord Dartmouth. ) My 
Lord," I Remember nothing in them to which the least exception could be 
taken ? 

Lord Dartmouth. That appears. Sir. from the report of the Committee of 
Council, and from your Majesty's order thereon. 

King. Could your ever find, Mr. Hutchinson, how those letters came to 
New England ? 

Hutchinson. Doctor Franklin, may it please your Majesty, has made a pub- 
lic declaration that he sent them, and the speaker has acknowledged to me that 
he received them. I do not remember that he said directly from Doctor Frank- 
lin : but it was understood between us that they came from him. 1 had heard 
before, that they came either direct from him, or that he had sent them through 
another channel ; and. that they were to be communicated to six persons only, 
and then to be returned, without suffering any copies being taken. I sent for 
the Speaker, and let him know what I ha^ heard, which came from one of the 
six to a friend, and so to me. The Speaker said they were sent to him, and 
that he was at first restrained from showing them to any more than sis persons. 

King. Did he tell vou who were the persons "? 

Hutchinson. Yes, " Sir. There was Mr. Bowdoin, 3Ir. Pitts, Doctor 
Winthrop, Doctor Chauncy, Doctor Cooper and himself. They are not all 



24 

the same which had been mentioned before. The two Mr. Adamses had been 
named to me in room of Mr. Pitts and Doctor Winthrop. 

King. Mr. Bowdoin, I have lieard of. 

Lord Dartmouth. I think he is father-in-law to Mr. Temple. 

King. Who is Mr. Pitts ? 

Hutchinson. He is one of the Council ; man-ied Mr. BoAvdoin's sister. 

King. I have heard of Doctor Chauncy and Dr. Cooper ; but who is Dr. 
Winthrop ? 

Hutchinson. He is not a doctor of divinity, Sir, but of law ; a professor 
of mathematics and natural phil )sophy at the college ; and last year was 
chose of the Council. 

King. I have heard of one Mr. Adams ; but who is the other ? 

Hutchinson\ He is a lawyer, Sir. 

King. Brother to the other ? 

Hutchinson. No, Sir ; a relation. He has been of the House, but is not 
now. He was elected by the two Houses to be of the Council, but negatived. 
The .speaker further acquainted me that after the first letter, he received 
another allowing him to show the letters to the Committee of Correspondence, 
and afterward a third, which allowed him to show them to such persons as he 
could confide in ; but always enjoined to send them back without taking 
copies. I asked him how he could be guilty of such a breach of trust as to 
suffer them to be made public. He excused it, by saying that he was against 
their being brought before the House ; but was overruled, and, when they had 
been read there, the people abroad compelled their publication, or would not 
be satisfied without it. 

While Hutchinson was on his way to England, occurred the ever- 
memorable meeting of the (leneral Court at Salem, on the 7th of June. 
The fifteen Councilors elected under the charter were still in office, and 
boldly announced to the Governor on the 9th their invincible attach- 
ment to their rights and liberties, and expressed the wish that the 
principles and general conduct of Gage's administration might be 
a happy contrast to that of his two immediate predecessors. At this 
point, the Governor stopped the reading, and soon after sent the Coun- 
cil a bitter message, denouncing the address as an insult upon His 
Majesty and an affront to himself On the 17th of June, with locked 
doors, and the key in Samuel Adams' pocket, and Secretary Flucker on 
the outside trying to prorogue the assembly, the House of Representa- 
tives elected five delegates to a Continental Congress at Philadelphia. 
James Bowdoin, the admitted leader of the Council for ^^ears, led the 
delegation, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Thomas Cushing and Robert 
Treat Paine being his associates, any three of whom should be a quorum. 

It never can cease to be a matter of regret that when that famous 
Continental Congress of fifty-three met on the 5th of September, 1774, 
at Philadelphia, James Bowdoin could not have taken his place at 
the head of the Massachusetts delegation. 

Massachusetts had been the pivot of the colonial contest for nearly 
fifteen 3'ears. Every principle of constitutional law, and the natural 
rights of man had been there discussed, and argued and settled by the 



25 

greatest intellects of the day, descendants of the liberty-loving party of 
England for a century. The State papers that had been there written 
and adopted have been declared by Chatham, Burke and Brougham in 
England and Daniel Webster* of our land to have been among the 
most masterly achievements of the human mind. No Councilor in 
Massachusetts, the theater of the war both of ideas and arms, had 
taken so active a part in the preparation and passage of those papers 
as Bowdoin. He not only represented the same liberal and grand 
ideas that emanated from the Adamses, Warrens and Otises, but he 
represented the property' class, and himself possessed an enormous 
fortune. 

John Q. Adams says, p. 146, " The committee of five had not been 
selected without great care, and the members of it closely represented 
the various interests of the colony. Mr. Bowdoin was of the few favored 
by fortune above the average, who had decidedl}' embraced the patriot 
cause." 

In John Adams" letter to Timothy Pickering, p. 512, Vol. II, he 
says : 

Gushing, two Adamses and Paine, all destitute of fortune, four poor pil- 
grims, proceeded in one coach, were escorted through Massachusetts, Con- 
necticut, New York and New Jersey into Pennsylvania. 

We were met at Frankfort by Dr. Rush, Mifflin, Bayard and several oth- 
ers of the Sons of Liberty in Philadelphia, who desired a conference with us. 
They asked leave to give us some information and advice which we thank- 
fully granted. Thej^ represented to us that the friends of Government in 
Boston and the Eastern States had represented us as four desperate adventur- 
ers. "Mr. Gushing was a harmless kind of man, but poor; Mr. Samuel Adams 
was desperately poor ; John Adams and Paine were two young lawyers of no 
great talents, reputation or weight, who had no other means of raising them- 
selves into consequence than by courting popularity." 

We were all suspected of having independence in view. Now, said they, 
you must not utter the word "independence," in Congress or in private; if 
you do, you are undone. No man dares to speak of it; you must not come 
forward with " any bold measures; you must not pretend to take the lead." 
]\Ir. McDougall and P. V. Livingston, in New York, the week before had 
taken the same or stronger gi'ound. See his diary, lb., p. 350. 

* In his last speech in Boston, only a few weeks before his death, Webster 
uttered these words: 

" From my earliest age the political history of Massachusetts has been a 
sort of beau ideal to me. g 

" Massachusetts struck for the liberty of a continent. It is her everlasting 
glory that hers was the first effort ever made by man to separate America from 
European dominion. That was vast and comprehensive. We look back upon 
it now, and well may we wonder at the great extent of mind, and genius and 
capacity, which influenced the men of the Revolution." 



26 

Not only were the Adamses and Paine and Gushing hampered by 
their own poverty and the necessities of their families, but they were 
warned in advance on their way through New York that the}' were 
dreaded by many as levelers and upstarts, who had nothing to lose 
and everything to gain bj' overturning affairs. If Bowdoin, the leader 
of the Massachusetts Council for ten years, the son of a Councilor, the 
brother-in-law of a wealthy Councilor, the friend and correspondent of 
Franklin, and the father-in-law of John Temple, heir to one of the old 
Baronetages of England ; if this man and this influence had been added 
to the four intellectual giants who did go, who can tell how it would have 
strengthened those four ! how it would have stopped the mouths of 
carping Tories ! how it would have affected the debates and the declara- 
tions of that famous body ! who can say that it would not have pro- 
duced that famous Declaration of Independence, jmri passu with 
the Suffolk Resolves, before the snow fell in the autumn of 1774 ? If 
that grand declaration had been adopted at once with spontaneous 
unanimity, closely upon the heels of the acts of Parliament, which 
subverted the charter rights of the colonies more than one hundred 
years old, would it not have stayed the commercial hand of England 
before she wedged herself irretrievably in a war that added £105,000,- 

000 sterling to her debt, and cut off thousands of her bi'avest and best 
lives! It is more than probable, but even if it had not so stayed her 
hand, the assistance from France, which ultimately saved us, would 
surely have been more prompt than it was. The doubts, the hesita- 
tion, the fears, the temporizing policy which delayed that declaration 
for twenty months, and so prolonged and embittered the war of the 
Revolution, might have been otherwise if the ardent and princely 
genius of Bowdoin could have been there added to his four great 
brothers. Even in old age, he had the firmness to put down the 
rebellion which threatened to obliterate all the good the Revolution 
had accomplished in Massachusetts. But alas, sickness to which 
all men and women are liable, prostrated both Bowdoin and his wife, 
just at the period when his services were most needed. The four went 
without him. On the 6th of September, 1774, he writes Josiah Quinc}', 
that he "has been journeying for two months about the province, with 
Mrs. Bowdoin, on account of her health, the bad state of which has 
prevented rtiy attending the Congress." On the 15th of June, 1775, 
Mrs. John Adams writes to her husband : " Mr. Bowdoin and his lady 
are in the house of Mrs. Borland. He, poor gentleman, is so low, that 

1 apprehend he is hastening to a ' house not made with hands.' He looks 



27 

like a mere skeleton, speaks faint and low, is racked with a violent 
cough, and I think far advanced in consumption." 

Let us now go back to Boston, in June, 1774. 

On the 3d of June. Lord Dartmouth had sent instructions to Gov. 
Gage to enforce the new acts, altering, rather abolishing the charter 
and the so-called Regulating Act, also commissions for thirty-six Coun- 
cilors to be called Mandamus Councilors. 

The official position of James Pitts was thus illegally and without 
pretense of right, but only by virtue of power and arms, forcibl}- and 
forever terminated. 

The duties, also, of John Pitts, as Selectman of Boston, were 
abridged, and he and they were forbidden to call any town meeting 
without authority of the Governor first obtained. Frothingham, " Life 
of Warren," p. 335, says : " More than ever before, were ej^es now fixed 
on the patriots of Boston, when the hitherto invincible British power 
CQjfDmanded the submission of a free people, to a Governor and Coun- 
cil intrusted with powers which the British constitution had not trusted 
to His Majesty and Privy Council^ so that lives and property were 
subject to absolute power. The issue concerned territory wider than 
Massachusetts, for it was now to be determined whether the Old World 
was to shape the institutions of the New World, or whether America 
should, as of right, frame her own laws." 

Twenty-four of the Mandamus Councilors accepted. An informal 
meeting was held August 8, and all were notified to assemble on the 
16th for the transaction of business. The Governor prepared to sup- 
port their authority by military force. He had, at his command, 
troops from famous European battle-fields. One regiment was at 
Salem where he resided ; one at Castle William, in Boston Harbor ; 
one regiment at Fort Hill and four regiments on the common. Nearly 
thirt}- ships of war were in the harbor. He sent for John Pitts and 
the other Selectmen of Boston, and told them he should execute 
the law against town meetings. The Mandamus Councilors who 
accepted felt the storm of public indignation, and many of them 
resigned. 

The Continental Congress at Philadelphia, on the 10th of October, 
resolved that all persons in Massachusetts, who consented to take office 
under the new acts, ought to be considered wicked tools of the des- 
potism that was preparing to destroy the rights which God, nature 
and compact had given to America, and ought to be held in abhor- 
rence b}' all good men. 



28 

The}' also resolved that, if Parliament attempt the execution of 
the late acts in Massachusetts by force, in such case all America ought 
to support the inhabitants of Massachusetts in their opposition. 

John Pitts, who had been, in 1774, an active member of the famous 
Committee of Correspondence, increased and broadened the sphere of 
his labor and influence. On October 16, 1774, he writes to Mr. Samuel 
Adams, of Philadelphia : 

The Committee of Correspondence are firm. In your absence, there has~ 
been, as usual, the improvement of the ready pens of a Warren and Church — 
the criticism of a Greenleaf — the vigilance and industry of a Moliueaux, and 
the united wisdom of those who commonly compose the meeting ; but when I 
have been there, I have sometimes observed the want of one who never failed 
to animate. After referring you to Mr. Tudor, for particulars of our political 
affairs, I have only to express my ardent wishes for a happy determination of 
your Congress, after which, that we may see you again as soon as may be, for, 
as "iron sharpeneth iron, so does the countenance of a man his friend." 

In August, 1774, he was elected one of five members from Boston 
to attend a County Congress, at Stoughton, Joseph Warren, William 
Phillips, Oliver Wendell and Benjamin Church being the others. The 
Regulating Act forbade town meetings, but Pitts and the other 
Selectmen called a meeting, August 16, 1774, for a County Congress 
at Stoughton. 

The Congress met and adjourned to meet at Dedham, September 
6, and, on the 9th of September, met again, at Milton, and unani- 
mously adopted the famous Suffolk Resolves. 

Frothingham says, in his life of Gen. Warren, p. 365: "These 
resolves were adopted by men who were terribly in earnest. They said 
that the power, but not the justice, the vengeance, but not the wisdom, 
of Great Britain, were acting with unrelenting severity. That it was 
an indispensable duty which they owed to God, their country, them- 
selves and posterity, by all lawful ways and means in their power, to 
maintain, defend and preserve, those civil and religious rights and 
liberties, for which many of their fathers fought, bled and died, and to 
hand them down entire to future generations." 

These resolves were carried to the Continental Congress by Paul 
Revere, and they elicited great applause. 

On the 7th of December, 1774, the town of Boston elected John 
Pitts as delegate to the Second Provincial Congress, to be held at 
Cambridge, in February, 1775, his associates being Gushing, Samuel 
Adams, John Hancock, Joseph Warren, Church and Oliver Wendell. 
That Congress met, and immediately appointed, as a Committee on 



29 

the State of the Province, Hancock, Hawley, Adams, Warren, Paine, 
John Pitts, Hoi ton, Heath, Gerrish, Gushing, Ward and Grardner. 
Their duties were constant and arduous. The members were placed 
under pledge of honor not to divulge the debates, and their subjects 
are left to conjecture. Wells says, p. 260, Vol. TI : " The body itself 
was the most remarkable, in some respects, that had yet convened in 
America. The}' were a body of statesmen, mostly untutored in the 
arts of diplomacy, but not surpassed in any civilized society in the 
world for intelligence and devotion to the rights of mankind. Cour- 
age, determination, sagacity, piety and all the qualities which compose 
true greatness in men, were there, and time has proved the consum- 
mate wisdom of all their measures." 

We next see John Pitts at the Old South Meeting-House, on the 5th 
of March, 1775. Adams was the Moderator, and Gen. Warren deliv- 
ered an oration on the Anniversary of the Boston Massacre. A Tory 
writer says : " On Monday, the Old South Meeting-House was crowded 
with nobility and fame, the Selectmen, with Adams, Church, Hancock 
and Cooper, and others, assembled in the pulpit, which was covered 
with black ; the front seats were filled with British officers. A volcano 
was ready to burst forth, and the time for the eruption was not far 
distant." 

On the 22d of March, the Congress met again, at Concord. The 
Committee on the State of the Province digested the measures of the 
Congress, and had them fully prepared before reporting plans of 
action. There is scarcely an instance where any of their decisions 
were recommitted. 

On the 8th of April, this committee reported a resolve providing 
for an armed alliance of Massachusetts. Connecticut, Rhode Island 
and New Hampshire, to raise and equip a general army, and to send 
delegates to meet those governments. One hundred and three mem- 
bers were present, and only seven voted against it ; and, in an incredi- 
bly short period, those New England States alone formed a defensive 
league against the power of Britain. 

Eleven days after that resolution, came the battle-peel at Lexing- 
ton, where 273 British officers and men were killed or wounded, 
followed by the thunder-crash at Bunker Hill, on June 17, where from 
1,100 to 1,500 British officers and men were sacrificed to the bull- 
headedness of George IH, and his administration. 

Between the skirmishes at Concord and Lexington and the battle 
of Bunker Hill on 31st of May, 1775, came the proper day for the 



30 

annual election of the House of Representatives for Massachusetts 
Colon}', and the Third Provincial Congress met at Watertowu in the 
meeting-house. The Committee of Safety met, and there was at the 
same time a convention of Congregational ministers. John Pitts was 
a member of the House, and they elected a lioard of Councilors, with 
James Bowdoin at the head. 

From this time on, these ardent laborers for American independ- 
ence were at work night and day raising troops, supplying arms and 
materials of war, taking care of the thousands inside of the besieged 
city of Boston, corresponding with the other colonies and the General 
Continental Congress, and their friends in Europe. 

I find a letter of John Pitts (in Frothingham's Siege of Boston, p. 
160) from Watertowu July 20, 1775, to Samuel Adams, then at Phila- 
delphia. He aays : " I find the letters in general from you and the 
rest of our friends complain of not having particular information rel- 
ative to the late battle of Charlestown. I do assure you the particulars 
any further than what I have already wrote you I have not been able 
to obtain from anj^ one. To be plain, it appears to me there never 
was more confusion and less command. No one appeared to have any 
but Col. Prescott, whose bravery can never be enough acknowledged 
and applauded." 

Gren. Washington left Philadelphia on the 21st of June, 1775, and 
was met by a committee of the Provincial Congress at Springfield. 
When he reached Watertowu the whole Congress honored him with a 
congi-atulatory address, and promised to contribute all the aid in their 
power in the discharge of the duties of his exalted office. He re- 
plied on July -1, in which he says : " I only emulate the virtue and 
public spirit of the whole province of Massachusetts Bay, which, with 
a firmness and patriotism without example in modern history, has sac- 
rificed all the comforts of social and political life in support of the 
rights of mankind and the welfare of our common country ; my highest 
ambition is to be the happy instrument of vindicating those rights, and 
to see this devoted province again restored to peace, liberty and safety." 

Let us pass over the eight months of labor and toil which inter- 
vened before the evacuation of Boston by the British on the 17th of 
March, 1776 — months of deprivation, anxiety and doubt, with raw re- 
cruits badly paid, badly clothed, badly fed, with a city full of people 
without fuel and almost without provisions, and the necessary irrita- 
tions between a hireling soldiery and an idle community, staying be- 
cause they could not go away. 



31 

Slowly the great Washington encircled the garrisoned town with 
his offensive intrenchments, and at last the British Arm}-, once thought 
invincible, crept upon their ships and sailed away, and Massachusetts 
was forever freed fniin the tread of a foreign foe in arms. 

The almost worn-out Selectmen of Boston immediately waited on 
Washington, with the following address : 

May it please your Excellency : The Selectmen of Boston in behalf of 
themselves and fellow-citizens, wit i all grateful respect congratulate you on 
the success of your military operations in the recovery of this town from an 
enemy collected from the once respected Britons, who in this instance are 
characterized by malice and fraud, rapine and plunder in every trace left be- 
hind them. 

Happy are we that this acquisition has been made with so little effusion of 
human blood, which, next to the Divine favor, permit us to ascribe to your 
Excellency's wisdom, evidenced in every part of the long besiegement. 

If it be possible to enhance the noble feelings of the person who, from the 
most affluent enjoyments, could throw himself into the hardships of a camp 
to save his country, uncertain of success, 'tis then possible this victory will 
heighten your Excellency's happiness, when you consider you have not only 
saved a large, elegant and once populous city from total destruction, but re- 
lieved the few wretched inhabitants from all the horrors of a besieged town, 
from the insults and abuses of a disgraced and chagi'ined army and restored 
many to their quiet habitations who had fled for safety to the bosom of their 
country. May your Excellency live to see the just rights of America settled 
on a firm basis, which felicity we sincerely wish you ; and at a late period may 
that felicitj' be changed into happiness eternal ! 

John Scollay, 

TiMO. Newell, 

Thomas Marshall, 

Samuel Austin. 

Oliver Wendell, 

John Pitts, 
To His Excellency George Washington, 

General of the United Forces of America. 

On the 29th of March, a joint committee from the Council and 
House of Representatives of Massachusetts "waited upon Washington 
with a long and flattering testimonial. 

John Pitts then not quite thirty-eight years of age, was a member 
of that House, but James, the Councilor, was no longer by his side- 
On the 25th of Januar}-, when his beloved city was still in the hands 
of a vandal soldier\', his patriotic spirit passed away to a world of 
peace. The only notice T have found of his last sickness is in a 
letter from John Adams to Gleorge Washington, as the latter 
was about starting for Cambridge to enter upon his great career of 



Selectmen, 

of 
Boston. 



32 

glory. Mr. Adams commends him to the tried and trusty souls of 

Massachusetts : 

Philadelphia, June, 1775. 

" In compliance with your request, I have considered of what you pro- 
pose, and am obliged to give you my sentiments very briefly, and in great 
haste. 

In general, sir, there will be three committees which are, and will be, 
composed of our best men, such whose judgment and integrity may be most 
relied on. I mean the Committee on the State of the Province [of whom 
John Pitts was one] , the Committee of Safety and the Committee of Supplies. 

But, lest this should be too general. I beg leave to mention particularly 
James Warren, Joseph Hawley, John Winthrop, Dr. Warren, Col. Palmer and 
Elbridge Gerry. Mr. Bowdoin, Mr. Sever and Mr. Dexter, lately of the Coun- 
cil, Avill be found to be very worthy men, as well as Mr. PITTS, who, lam 
sorry to hear, is in ill health. The recommendations of these gentlemen may 
be relied on." (Adams' Works, Vol. IX, p. 359.) 

His death was thus announced in No. 1,081 of the Boston Gazette 
and Country Journal, February 5, 1776 : " On the 25th of January last 
departed this life at Dunstable, in the 64th year of his age, the Hon- 
orable James Pitts, a gentleman who has greatly distinguished himself 
at our Council Board for inflexible virtue and warm attachment to the 
common rights of America, during the late corrupt and infamous 
administration of Barnard and Hutchinson. His death is as much 
regretted by the Public in the loss of a Patriot as it is felt by his chil- 
dren, family and acquaintance, to whom he had endeared himself by 
the most affectionate offices and friendly intercourse in the more pri- 
vate walks of life." Dying at less than sixty-four years of age, if he 
could have lived to the reasonable allotment of threescore years and 
ten, he would have seen the long and bloody war at an end, and the 
British Army surrendering their last foothold at Yorktown in October, 
1781. Let us hope that the heart of that '• warm, honest, frank Whig," 
as John Adams described him in February, 1771, bated no jot of 
heart or hope until the end. His only daughter Elizabeth, was by his 
side, and it is reasonable to suppose that some of his then surviving sons 
were with him, one of whom had already taken a place in the service 
of his native land, second only to the very first luminaries in that 
political sk3^ To trace the further history of John Pitts, would be to 
summarize the proceedings of the Massachusetts Legislature, as he 
was re-elected to the House in 1777-78 and was its Speaker in 1778. 
In 1777 he received the largest number of votes of any of the Suffolk 
County Representatives. He was elected Senator of the Massachusetts 
Legislature in 1780-81, 1783 and 1784. He then retired from public life 
to his estate at Tyngsboro, where he passed many years of happy sat- 
isfaction after the glorious success of the Revolution and the establish- 
ment of a free empire. He died in 1815. 



33 

As Selectman of Boston from 1773 to 1778, including the whole 
time of the siege, charged with the peace of the city, the removal of 
the citizens and guarding them from the inhumanit}- of the soldiers, 
burdened with the care of the poor and the thousand duties brought 
upon hira by the presence of an army and navy, the stoppage of the 
port and the cessation of all business — as one of the famous Com- 
mittee of Correspondence — and the Committee of Safety- — as Dele- 
gate to the County Congress which adopted the Suffolk Resolves, 
as member of the Second, Third and Fourth Provincial Congresses, as 
member of the Committee on the State of the Province, as Speaker of 
the House in 1778, and as Senator four years, he acquitted himself with 
untiring zeal, industry and liberalit}-, to the satisfaction and approval 
of a most exacting but glorious community. His uncompromising 
patriotism continued firm during all the scene-shifting of the Revolution. 

He risked his life, his fortune and his honor for the freedom of his 
country, and when it was accomplished, and so gloriously' acknowledged, 
he helped to adopt a Constitution for the State of Massachusetts which 
has been the model of our Western Empires. Like his friend, Samuel 
Adams, the Father of the Revolution — like his friend, George Wash- 
ington, the Savior of his Countr}^, he left no son to hand down his 
name to future generations, but wherever there beats a heart true to 
the instinct of sympathy with daring heroism, with so much to lose and 
so little to hope for from the forgetful gratitude of a world prone to 
accept all its blessings as of course, will the name of the Patriot John 
Pitts be honored — his memory cherished, and in some degree his 
example be emulated and followed. 



GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORICAL MEMORANDA OF THE 
PITTS FAMILY. 

'' Genealogy is the corner-stone of histor}'. Reflecting men usually 
desire to know something of their own ancestors. All past events 
have some bearing upon what is to come. The past is parent of 
the future. If this be so as respects nations, it is so in reference to 
individuals. The peculiarities of the individual are often the result 
of the combined elements of the mental and physical constitution of 
his ancestors. No man knows himself so well but that he may learn 
more by scrutinizing the lives of his progenitors. Tiie faults, the 
vices, the weakness, the strength, the virtues of the father of a family 
do not end in himself. Human legislation cannot touch that law of 
our race which ordains that 3-our children's children shall be the better 
for your virtues, and the worse for your sins. 

They who care nothing for their ancestors, are wanting in respect 
for themselves, and deserve to be treated with neglect by their poster- 
it}. Those who respect and venerate the memory- of their forefathers, 
will be led, not b}- vanity, but by filial atfection — by a pious reverence 
to treasure up their memories. What descendant of the Pilgrims, 
having no higher motive of conduct, would not feel stung with shame 
at the thought that the good name of his famil}' should be disgraced 
by HIM ? Every virtuous ancestor puts us under bonds to our pos- 
terity, and he wlio is duly sensible of what he owes to the past and to 
the future, will rarel}- fail to perform his duties to the present. There 
is no danger in lending strength to every motive that prompts to hon- 
orable actions."* 

1. Berwick Pitts\ of Lj-me Regis. County Dorset, England, a 
small seaport on the southern coast, born about 1630. 

2. John Pitts-, son of Berwick Pitts, was born at Lyme Regis. En- 
gland, 1668 ; emigrated to Boston about 1695 ; was a merchant. 
Married Elizabeth Lindall September 10, 1697 ; she was born in Dux- 
bury July 16, 1677, and died September 10, 1763 ; she was a daugh- 
ter of James and Susannah Lindall, of Duxbury. John Pitts died 
March 31, 1731. (Boston City Register.) 

* Whiting— New Eng. Gen. Reg., Vol. VII p. 107. 



35 



CHILDREN OF JOHN PITTS AND ELIZABETH LINDALL. 

3 John, born 1700, died 1727. 

4. Elizabeth, born 1703. Married Hugh Hall, 1722. 

5. Sarah, born 1705. Married William Stoddard, 1721. I have no 
record of the Hall and Stoddard families except as to two sons, Pitts 
Hall, who graduated at Harvard 1747, and John Stoddard. 

6. Thomas Pitts^, born 1707, Boston ; graduated at Harvard. 1726, 
studied law, and died same year. 

8. James Pitts'*, born at Boston, 1710 ; graduated at Harvard 
1731. Married October 26, 1732, to Elizabeth Bowdoin, daughter of 
James Bowdoin and Hannah Portage Bowdoin. Died September 8, 1 747. 

James Pitts^ was an active and leading patriot, a member of the 
Council from 1766 till his death. He died January 25, 1776, and 
was buried in his own tomb in King's Chapel burying-ground. The 
tomb is No. 7, and stands in the rear of the chancel. (See Bridg- 
mans Memorials of the Dead in King's Chapel Burying-Ground, for 
account of the family arms and tomb, and partial genealogy, p. 274, 
No. 1,081 of Boston Gazette and Country Journal for his obituarv.) 

Mrs. Pitts was born in Boston April 25, 1717, and died October 20, 
1771. (See obituary notice in appendix, p. 52.) 

CHILDREN OF JAMES PITTS AND ELIZABETH BOWDOIN. 

9. Elizabeth Pitts*, born 1734, married Februaiy 17, 1781, to Col. 
Jonathan Warner, of Portsmouth, N. H., sou of Hon. Daniel and 
Sarah Hill Warner, born Septembei" 6, 1726, and died May 14, 1814. 
(See Wentworth's Gen. Vol. Ill, p. 316.) Her portrait, painted by 
CopW, is now owned by Thomas Pitts, of Detroit. She died 
October 22, 1810. She left the whole of her large estate to her hus- 
band. Col. Warner. When he died, he left half of it to his niece, Mrs. 
Elizabeth Sherburne, and half to the daughter of Lendall Pitts, Mrs. 
Gerard Cazeaux. 

10. John Pitts^ born 1737, died 1815. Married Elizabeth Tyng. 
(See memorial ante) 

11. James Pitts Jr.,* born 1741, died July 11, 1772, at New Prov- 
idence, Bahama ; a bachelor. His will, executed 10th January, 1772, 
makes his brothers John and William his executors ; probated Novem- 
ber 27, 1 772, Foster Hutchinson, Judge. 

12. Thomas Pitts*, born 1743, died May 17, 1769, at Boston; a 
bachelor. 



13. William Pitts*, born 1744, died October 22, 1780, at Boston ; a 
bachelor. 

14. Samuel Pitts*, born 1745, died March 6, 1805 ; married Johan- 
na Davis, of Boston, 1776. (See post 37.) 

15. Lendall Pitts*, born 1747, died December 31, 1784 ; married 
Elizabeth Fitch. (See post 47.) 

11. John Pitts* left no son and but one child. 

16. Elizabeth Pitts^ born July 28, 1780, died May 7, 1857. Mar- 
ried September 22, 1801, Robert Briuley, whose obituary is in Vol. XXI, 
New England Gen. Reg., p. 286. (See Appendix.) 

CHILDREN OF ROBERT AND ELIZABETH BRINLEY. 

17. Nathaniel Brinley'', born June 20, 1809, died June 13, 1880. 
Married Elizabeth Bridge, October 10, 1839. 

18. Robert Brinley^ born October 22, 1816, died March 20, 1847. 
Catherine Craddock B., born July 8, 1806, died February 6, 1826.' 

CHILDREN OP NATHANIEL BRINLEY AND SARAH ELIZABETH BRIDGE. 

19. William Bridge Brinley, born February 3, 1842. Married (xraee 
Butterfield, of Tyngsboro, August 1, 1868. Has original portraits of 
James and Elizabeth Bowdoin Pitts, painted by Blackburn in 1757 ; 
also, a portrait of Susannah Jacobs. 

20. Nathaniel Bi'inley', born April 14, 1844, died at Andersonville 
September 13, 1864. (See obituary post.) 

21. Mary Elizabeth Brinley, married Rev. Angus Ross Kennedy, 
born July 26, 1846. 

14. Samuel Pitts*, born in 1745, died March 6, 1805. Married in 
1776, Johanna, daughter of William Davis, of Boston. He was a mer- 
chant in Boston, and, in partnership with his fsither, James, and sev- 
eral of his brothers, owned and fitted and sent out merchantmen to the 
Bermudas. In 1774, he was on the PubUc School Committee and on 
the committee to carry the resolutions of the Continental Congress 
into execution. 

He was a Son of Liberty and one of the tea-part}', though he, 
like the rest of the party, concealed the fact, it being especially 
necessary for the Pitts family to do so, as their father and Uncle 
Bowdoin were members of the King's Council, and their brother 
John a Selectman and member of the House. (See Memorial ante.) 
During the siege he was of great help to his brother John. Bridg- 



37 

man says he was a zealous patriot. After the Revolution, he 
retired to Chelmsford near the residence of Judge Tyng, whose 
daughter was the wife of John Pitts. He lived in luxury, de- 
voted to domestic comfort and a noble hospitality, and died there 
in 1805, having all his life declined public office, which the influ- 
ence of his father and Gov. Bowdoin naturally tendered him. His 
will, dated July 9, 1804, proved July 2, 1805, makes his brother John 
sole executor. His portrait was painted b}' Copley at twent3'-five, and 
a perfect cop}' of it is in the Pitts mansion at Detroit. On the death 
of his wife Johanna, Samuel Pitts'" married Mary Davis, her sister, 
who was the widow of Louis Carver. She survived Mr. Pitts and 
married for her third husband Judge Bachelder, of Fr^-eburg, Me. She 
survived him, also, and died at the house of her nephew and step-son, 
John Pitts, at Belgrade, Me. She received a silver snuff box from 
Commodore Steele, of the English Navy, now owned by Mrs. Daniel 
Goodwin, of Chicago. 

CHILDREN OF SAMUEL AND JOHANNA DAVIS PITTS. 

22. Capt. James Pitts, born in Boston, November 23, 1777, educated 
for the navy, owned and sailed merchant vessels to the Bermudas. 
Married Rachel Hildreth. Died December 19, 1843, at Chelmsford. 
No children. 

23. Thomas*, born at Boston September 5, 1779, died at Cambridge 
September 5, 1836. Married P]lizabeth Mountfort, November, 1802. 

24. John^ died November 10, 1834, unmarried, aged fifty-two 
years ; lived in Belgrade, Maine. 

25. William*, died about 1820, in East Florida, leaving three sons, 
Richard, William, and Samuel, who died in New Orleans, about 1820, 
leaving no children. 

26. Samuel*. 

27. Sarah Chardon Pitts*. Married Noah Davis, of Roxbury, 1815 ; 
died 1854. Had a son and daughter who died childless. 

28. Maiy Pitts* married William Stoddard Bridge, November 23, 
'1811, by Rev. Mr. Sawyer, of Cape Elizabeth, at Ft. Preble. 

23. Thomas*, born 1779, died 1836 ; commenced life as a merchant, 
in Augusta, Maine, but entered the army ; was commissioned as Major 
of the Fourth United States Artillery ; he served until the end of the 
war of 1812 with England, being in the battle of the French Mills in 
Canada, and passed down the River St. Lawrence, under the fire of the 



38 

enemy to Chatanago, under command of Gens. Hampton and Boyd. He 
was in the battle at Schuyler's Field. During the battle, Lieut. Henry 
Alexander Hobart, a grandson of Gren. Dearborn, had his head shot off 
by a cannon ball. Hobart was one of the witnesses at the wedding of 
Mary Pitts — sister of Thomas^at Fort Preble, in 1811. After the war 
Maj. Thomas Pitts was in the State Bank, at Augusta, Maine, for many 
years ; he spent the last years of his life at Cambridge, and was Inspect- 
or of Customs at Boston. He married, in November, 1801^, Elizabeth 
Mountfort, of Boston, who died August 14, 1843, daughter of Dr. Jon- 
athan Mountfort and Mar}' Bole ; son of Jonathan M. and Sarah 
Bridge ; son of Edmond Mountfort, who was the son of the Edmond 
Mountfort who died in Boston in 1695. The original deed from Joseph 
Bastar to Edmond Mountfort of his homestead, also his will, are owned 
by Mrs. Daniel Goodwin. 

Mary Bole Mountfort had a romantic experience. She was a native 
of Newfoundland. Her father sent her by Capt. Shepherd, of Medford, 
Mass., (a brother-in-law of Judge Jjce, of Cambridge), to Halifax to attend 
a school there. Capt. Shepherd found Halifax blockaded, and went to 
Boston and left Mar}' Bole at his own house. He and his wife were 
childless and became attached to her, and, with consent of her parents 
adopted her. She became engaged to Dr. Mountfort, and before mar- 
riage went to visit her parents at Waterford, Ireland, to which place 
they had removed. On her return, laden with wedding presents, the 
ship was wrecked on a ledge of rocks in Boston Harbor. She was saved 
by the mate, John Wythe, who swam ashore to the lighthouse. Every 
other person on board was lost. Dr. Mountfort was sent for and claimed 
his bride, and the}' were married. Capt. Shepherd gave her a house 
and lot in Boston. It is said she was very beautiful ; had seven chil- 
dren by Dr. Mountfort ; survived him, and married Gen. Ebenezer 
Bridge, of Chelmsford. 

Mrs. Goodwin has also a quarto Bible, printed in 1679, 1707-8, con- 
taining the Mountfort record since 1 742. The Mountforts claim de- 
scent from Simon de Mountfort (1633), whose pedigree goes back to 
Turstan de Montfort (1030). (See Dugdale's History of Warwickshire, 
in library at Harvard University, and Drake's Boston, page 522). It 
is said the Edmond who arrived in Boston in the ship Providence 
(1656), was a son of Simon de Montfort. Maj. Pitts was in command of 
Fort Preble, Portland Harbor, in 1810, and his oldest son, Samuel M."^, 
was born there. 



39 



CHILDREN OF THOMAS AND ELIZABETH MOUNTFORT PITTS. 

29. Mary Ann Pitts", born November 25, 1804 ; married, January 6, 
1825, Ezra Warren. 

30. Elizabeth Bowdoin Pitts'^, born October 13, 1806 ; died Novem- 
ber 10, 1855, unmarried. • 

31. Samuel Mountfort Pitts*=, born April 17, 1810, at Fort Preble ; 
died April 26, 1868, at Detroit : married Sarah Merrill, June 24, 
1836. 

32. Emeline Bowdoin", born March 28, 1813 ; married, September 
4, 1832, Dr. Benjamin Sanborn. 

33. Frances", born September 30, 1815 ; married (1836) Charles 
Merrill, and died April 2, 1871. He was born January 13, 1792, and 
died December 8, 1872. 

34. George", born April 30, 1817 ; unmarried. 

35. Sarah Mountfort", born July 22, 1820 ; married (1846) Charles 
D. Farlin. No issue. 

29. Mary Ann Pitts", born 1804 ; married Ezra Warren, of Chelms- 
ford, a relative of Dr. Warren, of Boston. 

CHILDREN OF MARY ANN PITTS. 

36. Henry Warren^ born May 28, 1826 ; died 1868. He was edu- 
cated at Worcester Medical College, and married Anna Wing, of 
Acushnet, Mass. 

37. Samuel Pitts Warren', born December 27, 1827 ; died 1862, 
unmarried. 

Harriet Osborne Warren is a daughter of Henry and Anna Warren, 
born in 1862. 

After the death of Ezra Warren, his widow married, October 28, 
1842, Jonathan Wheelock, of Welsh extraction, and a kinsman of Pres- 
ident Wheelock, of Dartmouth College. 

31. Samuel xMountfort Pitts", b. 1810 ; d. 1868. Married at Cam- 
bridge, 1836, Sarah Merrill, born at Vassalboro, Me., daughter of 
Joshua Merrill, b. May 7, 1780; d. Nov. 17, 1860; and Elizabeth 
Bradford, b. April 26, 1785; d. January 19, 1856. Julia Merrill, 
twin sister of Sarah, m-arried, in 1845, Daniel Goodwin, then Judge of 
the Supreme Court of Mich. Joshua M., was son of Gen. James 
Merrill, of Portland, Me., and Hannah Merrill. Gen. James M. was 
son of Joshua Merrill and Mary Winslow, daughter of James Winslow, 
said to be a descendant of Gov. Edward Winslow of the Mayflower. 



40 

Elizabeth Bradford was daughter of Peter Bradford, b. 1745' 
d. 1833, son of Hon. Gamaliel Bradford, b. 1704, d. 1778, one 
of the King's Council, with James Pitts and James Bowdoin, from 
1766 to 1770, and Judge of the Count}^ Court. He was son of Sam- 
uel Bradford, b. 1668, d. 1714, son of Maj. William Bradford, b. 
1624, d. 1704, who was son of Grov. William Bradford of the Mayflower. 
(See New Eng. Gen. Keg., Vol. IV, pp. 39 and 239.) 

Gamaliel's mother, Hannah Rogers, was daughter of John Rogers 
and Elizabeth Peabody. Elizabeth was dau. of William Peabody, 
b. 1619, d. 1707, and Elizabeth Alden, b. 1624, d. 1717, and she 
was dau. of John Alden, b. 1597, d. 1687, and Priscilla MuUins, both 
of the Mayflower, and who were the first man and woman who 
stepped on Plymouth Rock, as has been popularly supposed, Decem- 
ber 21, 1620, but as argued in Atlantic Monthly for November, 1881, 
on the 4th of January, 1621. 

Samuel M.Pitts graduated at Harvard in 1830, being a class-mate 
and friend of Charles Sumner, Thomas C. Amorj^ John B. Kerr, E. R. 
Potter, Franklin Saw3er, Jonathan F. Stearns, George W. Warren and 
Samuel T. Worcester. Among other college mates were his kinsman, 
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, also George S. Hilliard, C. C. Emerson, 
George T. Bigelow, James Freeman Clarke, Benjamin R. Curtis, Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, Benjamin Pierce, the historian Motley, George T 
Curtis and George E. Ellis. 

He studied law in Detroit, Mich., with Gen. Charles Lamed, and 
became executor of his estate upon the death of Larned, and suc- 
ceeded to his law business ; devoted himself to his profession and edit- 
ing a newspaper for twelve years, and was compelled, b}' loss of health, 
to abandon his profession. He then engaged in the manufacture of 
lumber and salt and in the purchase of pine lands, and accumulated a 
large fortune. He died in 1868, and before his death admitted his 
only son, Thomas, and the husband of his oldest daughter, Julia, Mr. 
Thomas Cranage, Jr., into partnership, under the firm name of Pitts & 
Cranage. He was a devoted Presbyterian, and extremely liberal and 
helpful to his church and its varied societies, and to the poor and sick 
of all races and colors. He was a thoroughly educated man, of fine 
presence and handsome face, with a musical voice ; always spoke and 
wrote with great elegance and precision ; conversed fluently in 
English, French and German, and quoted freely from the Latin. 
When in health he w^as celebrated for his good stories and apt illustra- 
tions. At the time of his death there were four very full eulogistic 



41 

notices of him, one b}- the Rev. Dr. George Duffield, published in the 
New York Independent, May 14, 1868, and one by Judge Daniel Good- 
win, President of the Constitutional Convention of Michigan of 1850, 
published by the Detroit Free Press. 

Dr. Duffield said, •' He was an enlightened, consistent, faithful fol- 
lower of Christ, an useful, public-spirited and benevolent dispenser of 
his means for the benefit of the suffering poor and the cause of evan- 
gelical piety. He loved to minister to the wants of the needv, who 
came in his way, but averse to anything like displa}' or showof charitj^, 
he let not his left hand know what bis right hand did. Prominent 
among those who bore his remains to their last resting-place, were 
members and cotemporaries of the bar, with which profession his 
tastes, liberal culture and social intercourse, kept him identified to the 
time of his death." 

Judge Goodwin said of him, " He possessed an intelligent mind, 
and was a good scholar. He was a man of high integrity and of ex- 
emplar}- character ; was liberal in support of objects of public utilitj', 
and kind and generous to the poor, many of whom will, with grateful 
recollections shed tears over his memory." 

CHILDREN OF SAMUEL MOUNTFORT PITTS AND SARAH MERRILL : 

38. Julia Larned Pitts', b. July 29, 1837 ; m. October 20, 1863, 
Thomas Cranage, Jr., then of Detroit, now of Bay Cit}^ 

39. Elizabeth', b. May 26, 1839 ; d. May 6, 18-12. 

40. Tliomas Pitts', b. October 11, 1841 ; m. June 21, 1871, Louise 
Chapin Strong, of Detroit. 

41. Frances Pitts', b. October 9, 1843; m. December 29, 1863, 
Henr}' Martyn Duffield, of Detroit. 

42. Caroline Pitts', b. October 9, 1843 ; m. July 13, 1864, Henry 
Billings Brown, who went from Connecticut to Detroit in 186i», grad- 
uated at Yale College 1856, studied law at Harvard University in the 
class of 1860 ; was Judge of the Circuit Court of Wayne County in 
1870, and appointed Judge of the Eastern District of Michigan, by 
President Grant in 1875. 

43. Isabella Duffield Pitts', b. August 9, 1845 ; m. July 7, 1875, 
Daniel Goodwin, Jr., lawyer of Chicago. 

38. Julia Larned Pitts', and Thomas Cranage, Jr., settled in Bay 
City, Michigan. 



42 

CHILDREN OF JULIA AND THOMAS CRANAGE. 

44. Sarah Cranage^ b. September 2, 1864 ; d. April 29, 1875. 

45. Samuel Pitts Cranage^ b. September 25, 1865. 

46. Mary Cranage , b. July 25, 1867. 

40. Thomas Pitts, of Detroit, Michigan, was educated at Andover, 
Massachusetts ; entered into business with his father, Samuel M., in 

1867 ; married Louise Chapin Strong in 1871. He and James Len- 
dall P., of Grand Rapids, Mich., are the only male descendants bear- 
ing the name in the seventh generation from John P., the first settler- 

CHILDREN OF THOMAS AND LOUISE PITTS. 

47. Helen Strong Pitts^ b. April 30, 1872. 

48. Caroline Brown Pitts^ b. December 15, 1873 ; d. October 8, 
1874. 

49. Samuel Lendall Pitts", b. November 20, 1875 ; only male bear- 
ing the Pitts name in eighth generation. 

41. Frances Pitts, m. Henry Martyn Duffleld, December 29, 1863 ; 
youngest child of Rev. Dr. George Duffield, an eminent Presbyterian, 
at Carlisle, Philadelphia and Detroit; b. July 4, 1794; d. June 26, 

1868 ; grandson of another Rev. Dr. George Duffield, Chaplain of 
the Continental Congress. 

George Duffield, the patriot preacher and Chaplain of Congress at 
Philadelphia, was born October 7, 1732. Graduated at Princeton College 
in 1752. Married a sister of Gen. John Armstrong * of Carlisle, and in 
1759 was settled over a congregation at Carlisle, Penn. This place was 
then so surrounded with Indians that the congregation had to go armed, 
and keep sentinels out to guard them from surprises. Dr. Duffield 
always shared the expeditions against the redskins. He became Pas- 
tor of the Third Presbyterian Church at Philadelphia in 1772. In the 
war upon the colonies by England, he took sides at once and fearlessly 
for the freedom of his country, and preached resistance as a duty. 

John Adams usually attended his church, and the following letters 
were written by him to his wife, who was at home in Massachusetts : 

Philadelphia, 11 June, 177i5. 

I have been this morning to hear Mr. Duffield, a preacher iu this city, 
whose principles, prayers and sermons more nearly resemble those of our New 

*Gen. Armstrong died March 9, 1795, aged seventy-five; was a Major Gen- 
eral of the Continental Army under Washington, and a Member of Congress 
in 1778-80, 1787-88. His son, Gen. Jolin, Jr., was Secretary of War under 
Madison; married a daughter of Chancellor Livingston, and was father of Mrs. 
William B. Astor. 



43 

England clergy than any that I have heard. His discourse was a kind of ex- 
position of the 35th chapter of Isaiah. America was the wilderness and the 
solitar}' place, and he .said it would be glad, "rejoice and blossom as the rose." 
He labored to strengthen the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. He 
said to them that were of a fearful heart, "be strong, fear not. Behold, your 
God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense ; He will come 
and save you." "No lion shall be there, nor anj^ ravenous beast shall go up 
thereon, but the redeemed shall walk there," etc. He applied the whole 
prophec}^ to this country, and gave us as animating an entertainment as I ever 
heard. He filled and swelled the bosom of every hearer. The clergy this way 
are beginning to engage in politics, and they engage with a fervor that will 
produce wonderful oifects. 

Philadelphia, 7 July, 1775. 

It is not surprising to me that the wanton, cruel and infamous conflagra- 
tion of Charlestown. the place of your father's nativity, should afflict him. 
Ever}^ year brings us fresh evidence that we have nothing to hope from our 
loving mother country but cruelties more abominable than those which are 
practiced by the savage Indians. Your description of the distress of the 
worthy inhabitants of Boston and the other seaport towns, is enough to melt 
a heart of stone. Our consolation must be this, that cities may be rebuilt, and 
a people reduced to poverty may acquire fresh property. But a constitution 
of government once changed from freedom can never be restored. Liberty 
once lost is lost forever. When tlie people once surrender their share in the 
Legislature and their right of defending the limitations upon the Govern- 
ment, of resisting every encroachment upon them, they can never regain it. 

I feel much obliged to Mr. Bowdoin and Mr, Wibird for their civilities to 
you. My compliments to them. Does Mr. Wibird preach against oppression 
and the other cardinal vices of the times ? Tell him the clergj^ here, of everj' 
denomination, not excepting the Episcopalian, thunder and lighten everj' Sab- 
bath. They pray for Boston and the Massachusetts. They thank God, most 
explicitly and fervently, for our remarkable successes. They pray for the 
American Army. They seem to feel as if they were among you. 

30th July, 1775. 
This day I heard my parish priest (Mr. Duffield), from 2 Chronicles, xv, 
1-3. This gentleman never fails to adapt his discourse to the times. He 
pressed upon his audience the necessitj^ of piety and virtue in the present 
times of adversity, and held up to their view the army before Boston as an 
examjile. He understood, he said, that the voice of the swearer was scarcely 
heard ; that the Sabbath was well observed, and all immoralities discontinued. 
No doubt there were vicious individuals, but the general character was good. 
I hope this good man's information is true, and that this will become more 
and more the true character of that camp. You may well suppose that this 
language was exceedingly pleasing to me. 

Philadelphia, 11 February, 1776. 
Here I am again. Arrived last Thursday, in good health. I can form no 
judgment of the state of public opinion and principles here as yet, nor any 



44 

conjectures of what an hour may bring forth. Have been to meeting and 
heard Mr. Duflfie.d, from Jeremiah, ii, 17. He prayed very earnestly for Bos- 
ton and New York. 

17 May, 1776. 

I have this morning heard Mr. Duffield upon the signs of the times. He 
ran a paraUel between the case of Israel and that of America, and between 
the conduct of Pharaoh and that of Geo. 3d. Jealousy that the Israelites 
would throw ofE the government of Egypt made him issue his edict that the 
children should be cast into the river, and the other edict that the men should 
make a large revenue of bricks without straw. He concluded that the course 
of events indicated strongly the design of Providence that we should be sep- 
arated from Great Britain, etc. 

Philadelphia, 24 August, 1777. 

The army marched through the town between 9 & 10 o'c. Four Regi- 
ments of light horse, Bland's, Baylor's, Sheldon's & Moylan's— four grand 
divisions of the army. They marched twelve deep, & yet took up two hours 
in passing by. General Washington and the other general officers with their 
aids, on horseback. The Colonels and other field officers on horseback. We 
have now an army well appointed between us & Howe, so that I feel as secure 
here as if I was at Braintree, but not so happy. My happiness is nowhere to 
be found but there. 

After viewing this fine spectacle & firm defense, I went to Mr. Duffield' s 
meeting to hear him pray, as he did most fervently, & I believe he was most 
sincerely joined by all present for its success. 

YoRKTOWN, 25 October, 1777. 

Congress has appointed two chaplains, Mr. White and Mr. Duifield, the 
former of whom, an Episcopalian, is arrived, & opens Congress with prayers 
every day. The latter is expected every hour. 

So great was Dr. Duffield's zeal in the cause of the colonies, and so 
wide was his influence known to be, that his services in the arm}' were 
soijght for, and on the 1st of Jul}^ 1776, lie was commissioned as 
Chaplain to the Penns3'lvaDia militia. He was well known in camp, 
and his visits were always welcome. When the enemy were at Staten 
Island, and the American Army was across the river on the Jersey 
shore, he repaired to camp to spend the Sabbath. He commenced 
religious services in an orchard, and when his troops began to sing, the 
British heard them, and began firing on them with cannon. They 
changed their position, and held their services out. When the army, 
reduced to a small number, fled through New Jersey, and the cause 
seemed hopeless, he stayed with them through all their hardships, and 
encouraged them all in his power. 

It is said that in a skirmish near Trenton, a brother chaplain, John 
Rossburgh, was taken prisoner, and immediately killed without quar- 
ter. His body was found by Mr. DuflSeld, who had it removed and 



45 

buried. Such was the fate he was in constant danger from if he should 
be captured, for the British dreaded our preachers, and paid little 
attention to the rights of our people or the wishes of prisoners. Mr. 
Duffield came very near being captured when Washington abandoned 
Princeton and Trenton. A price was set on his head and he was 
excluded from the amnesty offered to the Patriots by the British 
General. His zeal for his country never abated, nor his patriotic 
efforts ceased. He lived to see his country at peace, and again took 
his old church at Philadelpliia, and preached there till he died in 1790- 
The last letter from John Adams was written from Yorktown, where 
Cornwallis and the British Army surrendered to Washington, October 
19, 1781, the 100th anniversary of which was attended by his great 
grandson. Col. Henry M. Duffield, as staff officer of Grov. Jerome. 
Robert C. Winthrop was the orator of the da^-. 

I cannot close this sketch more satisfactorily to myself than by 
citing one more letter of that grand character, John Adams, to his wife : 

loth April, 1776. 
Tell my children that I studied ct hibored to procure a free constitution of 
government for them to solace themselves under, & if they do not prefer this 
to ample fortune, to ease and elegance, they are not my children. Take care 
that they don't go astray ; cultivate their minds ; inspire their little hearts ; 
raise their wishes. Fix their attention upon great & glorious objects. Root 
out every little thing. Weed out every meanness. Make them great & manly. 
Teach them to scorn injustice, ingratitude, cowardice and falsehood. Let 
them revere nothing but religion, morality & liberty. 

Henry's mother, Isabella Bethune, b. October 22, 1799 ; d. November 
3, 1871, was the dau. of Divie Bethune, of New York, who married 
July, 1795, Joanna Graham, dau. of Dr. Graham, of Scotland, and 
the celebrated Isabella Graham, founder of many public charities 
in that city. Divie Bethune was a cousin of the father of the Rt. Hon. 
William E. Gladstone. Henry M. graduated at Williams College, 1861 ; 
served through the war from 1861 to 1865, and was a member of the 
staff of Gen. George H. Thomas ; since the war, practiced law in Detroit, 
and in 1882, is Counselor for that city. 

CHILDREN OF HENRY M. AND FRANCES PITTS DUFFIELD. 

50. Henry Martyn Duffield, Jr.«, b. August 9, 1865. 

51. Samuel Pitts D., b. January 22, 1869. 

52. Divie Bethune D., b. March 3, 1870. 

53. William Beach D., b. March 29, 1871 ; d. July 10, 1876. 

54. Francis D., b. October 23, 1873. 



46 

55. Morse Stewart D., b. September 29, 1875. 

56. Graham D., b. November 21, 1876. 

32. Emeline Bowdohi Pitts", married September 4, 1832, Dr. Ben- 
jamin Sanborn ; b. August 24, 1800 ; d. February 28, 1846, oldest son 
of Dr. William Sanborn, b. in Kingston, N. H., and died in Falmouth, 
Me., 1847 ; age, seventy-nine. 

CHILDREN OF BENJAMIN AND EMELINE BOAVDIN SANBORN. 

58. John Pitts Sanborn", b. Belgrade, Me., July 13, 1833 ; m. Oc- 
tober 17, 1855, Mary Ann Wastell, daughter of Rev. VV. P. Wastell, of 
London, England. Collector of United States Customs at Port Huron, 
Mich., for nearly twenty years last past. 

59. William S., b. November 2, 1834 ; m. August 17, 1858, Nancy 
Eliza Howard ; d. June 24, 1876, at San Diego, Cal. Served in the 
war from 1861 to 1865 with distinction, and was wounded and never 
recovered. Was Major of the Twenty-second Infantry Michigan Vol- 
unteers, and, on the death of Col. Wisner, was promoted and com- 
manded the regiment at the battle of Chickamauga, September 10, 
1863, and was brevetted Brigadier General for gallant conduct on the 
field, where he was woundfed. 

60. Peter Bowdoin S., b. March 12, 1838 ; m. in 1865, Mary Salome 
Willegar ; served most creditably in the war in 1861-62 in Berdan's 
Sharpshooters. 

61. James Merrill S., b. August 13. 1840 ; m. September 29. 1868, 
Lillia Whiting. 

62. Nancie Merrill S. 

CHILDREN OF JOHN PITTS SANBORN. 

64. Mary Eliza Sanborn", b. March 24, 1869. 

65. Frank Pitts Sanborn^ b. October 19, 1879. 

CHILD OF GEN. WILLIAM SANBORN. 

66. Kate Eliza, b. April 24, 1865. 

CHILDREN OF PETER BOWDOIN SANBORN. 

67. Alvah Sanborn, b. July 2, 1865. 

68. Clare Sanborn, b. February 9, 1873. 

CHILDREN OF JAMES MERRILL SANBORN. 

69. George Whiting Sanborn^ 

70. Charles Henry Sanborn. 

71. Hugh Read Sanborn. 



47 

33. Frances Pitts®, m. Charles Merrill in 1836; he b. Januarj^ 3, 
1792; d. December 28, 1872 ; son of Gen. James Merrill, of Portland, 
and brother of Joshua Merrill, father of Mrs. Samuel Pitts'' and Mrs. 
Judge Goodwin. Charles lived about thirt}' years in Detroit, and was 
a man of great wealth and influence. The}' left but one child. 

63. Elizabeth Pitts Merrill, b. October 8, 1837, at Portland ; m. Oc- 
tober 16, 1855, Thomas W. Palmer, of Detroit, a man of liberal culture 
and large wealth, and Senator in the Michigan Legislature from 1878 
to 1880. 

15. Lendall Pitts\ b. 1747, d. December 31, 1787; married Elizabeth 
Fitch, dau. of Timothy Fitch, of Medford; she died June, ^786. Lendall 
was a Son of Libert}' and an ardent Patriot; was leader of the famous 
tea party, December 16, 1773. (See Elliott's Hist. Mass.; Hewes' ac- 
count of the tea party ; Drake's Old Land Marks of Boston, p. 281 ; 
Lossings' Field Book of the Jlevolution, Vol. I, p. 498.) 

CHILDREN OF LENDALL PITTS AND ELIZABETH PITTS. 

72. William Pitts'', b. Boston, August 22, 1779, d. 1846. 

73. Elizabeth Warner P.', b. December 25, 1783, m., 1815, Gerard 
Cazeaux, d. July, 1851. 

74. Margaret Gordon P.^ b. 1784, d. August 17, 1823, unmarried. 

72. William Pitts^ b. 1779, m. December 15, 1810, Emily Shattuck, 
3d dau. of Moses and Hannah Shattuck, of Suffield, Conn., b. April 
19, 1795, she died December 15, 1831, tet. 36 yrs. 

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM PITTS AND EMILY SHATTUCK. 

75. Emily Elizabeth Pitts", b. Charlestown, March 17, 1812, d. 1835, 

76. Mary B. P.", b. Boston, March 17, 1817, living in Brookline, 
1881, unmarried. 

77. James Lendall Pitts", b. Charlestown, December 17, 1822, m. 
May 15, 1845, Louisa M. Griffiths. 

73. Elizabeth Warner Pitts, b. 1785, d. 1851, m. Gerard Cazeaux, 
French Consul at Portsmouth, N. H., and afterward at New York City. 
He died in France, 1830. She was adopted b}- her aunt, Elizabeth 
Pitts Warner, No. 9 ante, who had no children. She inherited from 
Colonel and Mrs. Warner one half of their estate, and, among other 
things, the Copley and Smybert portraits, now owned by Thomas Pitts, 
of Detroit. Col. Warner's will— April 27. 1808 — leaves •' one moiety of 



48 

all my real, personal and mixed estate to my dear niece, Elizabeth 
Warner Pitts, oldest daughter of mj^ late brother-in-law, Lendall Pitts, 
of Boston." Mr. Cazeaux says, touching the family portraits of Mrs. 
Warner, by Copley, and Mrs. James Pitts, by Smybert : " The late Will- 
iam Hunt, who saw them repeatedly, pronounced them fine examples 
of the work of the men who painted them. He attached a historical 
value to them, as exemplifying the history of art in America. His 
sister. Miss Jane Hunt, no common artist herself, admired them. 
Thomas Robinson considers the portrait of Madam Pitts as good a 
Smybert as he ever saw." 

CHILDREN OP GERARD CAZEAUX AND ELIZABETH W. PITTS. 

78. Pierre Ribero Cazeaux', b. May, 1818, d. November, 1877, un- 
married. 

79. Lendall Pitts Cazeaux', b. April, 1822, graduated at Harvard, 
1842, living in Brookline, Mass., in 1881. unmarried. Has original 
minature portraits of Lendall Pitts, leader of tea party, and his wife. 

77. James Lendall Pitts', third son of William and Emily, b. 1822, 
married May 15, 1845, Louisa M. Griffiths. 

CHILDREN OF JAMES LENDALL PITTS. 

80. Fannie Louisa, b. Detroit, December 9, 1856. 

81. James Lendall, b. Orand Rapids, Septeml)er 6, 1864. 



APPENDIX. 



WILL OF EDMOND MOUNTFORT. 

Boston, August 8, 1690. — In the name of God, Amen. I, Edmond Mount- 
fort, Sr., being very sicke and weake in body, but of perfect seuce and mem- 
ory, and not knowing wliat God liatli appointed concerning me, do make this 
my last will and testament. 

Fii-st, I bequeath my soul to the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, and my 
body to be decently buried, and, after my debts and funerall charges are paid, 
I give and bequeath unto my loving wife my whole estate, both real and per- 
sonal!, to possess and enjoy during her natural life, my housing and all the 
land belonging to them, I purchased with my money. And my will is, they 
shall be as chattels, or as any other part of my movable estate. Also, I give 
unto my beloved wife full and ample power to sell my house in the land com- 
monly called the black horse land. And my will is that, after the decease of 
my dear and loving wife, my whole estate, after due apprizment, be equally 
divided amongst my children, both sons and daughters to have like portion, 
only if ni}^ eldest son, Edmond, shall survive his mother, he shall have a 
double portion. Also, I do make and appoint my beloved wife my sole execu- 
trix, and my brothers, Henry and Benjamin Mountfort, to be the overseers, of 
this my will. Also, I give to my overseers five pounds to each of them. 

Witness: John Atwood, Edmond Mountfort, Sr. [Seal.] 

William Robie, 
Henry Mountfort. 

Boston, April 2d, 1695. — Mrs. Elizabeth Mountfort, the exrx within 
nominated, presented this will for probate, and John Atwood and William 
Robie, two of the subscribing witnesses, made oath in County Court that they 
were present and did see Edmond Mountfort signe and seale, and heard him 
publish this instrument to be his last will and testament, and that, when he so 
did, he was of a disposing mind to their understanding. 

Attest: Joseph Webb, Cler. 

will op SUSANNAH JACOBS — 1737. 

Letters of administration on Susannah Jacobs' Estate were issued March 
6, 1783, by Josiah Willard, Judge of Probate for the County of Suffolk and 
Province of Massachusetts Bay, to James Pitts, of Boston. Her will was as 
follows : 

In the name of God, Amen ! This 5th of September, A. D. 1737, I, Susan- 
nah Jacobs, of Boston, do make and ordain this to be my last will and testa- 



50 

ment.* After my debts and funeral expenses are paid, I give and bequeath 
the remainder of my estate in the following manner and form, viz. : I give and 
bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth Pitts, wife of Mr. John Pitts, of Boston, 
£500; I give and bequeath to my grandson, James Pitts, son of Mr. John Pitts, 
my brick house, wherein I now dwell, and the ground it stands on; I give and 
bequeath to my grand-daughter Elizabeth Hall, wife to Mr. Hugh Hall, of 
Boston, the house that Mrs. Loyd dwells in, being the next adjoining to my 
aforesaid brick house, with the land which it stands on. I also give to my 
said grand-daughter the sum of £800; I give and bequeath to my grand-daugh- 
ter Sarah Stoddard, wife to Mr. Wm. Stoddard, of Boston, the house that Mrs. 
Durrall and Dr. Pemberton live in, adjoining to the aforesaid Mrs. Loyd's 
house, and the ground on which it stands, and also give her the sum of £800. 
She then provides for a life annuity to her kinswomen Mary and Hannah 
Ross, and legacies to the Rev. Messrs. Benjamin Coleman and Wra. Cooper^ 
All the rest of my estate, both real and personal, I give and bequeath to my 
aforenamed grandson, James Pitts, and to his heirs, etc. Constitutes her son- 
in-law John Pitts, sole executor. 

WILL OF JOHN PITTS — 1729. 

On the 10th June, 1731, James Pitts was appointed Executor of his 
father's estate by Josiah Willard, Judge of Probate for the County of Suffolk. 
The will that day proven was as follows: 

In the name of God, Amen. This 10th day of October, 1739, I, John 
Pitts, of Boston, give and bequeath to Elizabeth, my well-beloved wife £1,000. 
To my daughter, Elizabeth Hall, wife to Hugh Hall, £1,000, and to her and 
her husband the use of the brick house wherein they live, during their natural 
lives, and to the longest liver of them during his or her natural life, and after 
that I give and bequeath the brick house and land belonging to it, to Pitts 
Hal], their son, and to his heirs and assigns forever. 

I give and bequeath to my daughter, Sarah Stoddard, £1,000, wife to 
Wm. Stoddard, and to her and her husband, to the longest liver of them, the 
use of my brick house wherein they now live, during their natural lives, and 
after their decease I give and bequeath ye brick house and land belonging to 
it to my grandson, their son, John Stoddard, and to his heirs and assigns for- 
ever; I give and bequeath to my wife, Elizabeth Pitts, one full third part of 
all my real estate, and the whole of my household stuff and plate. All the 
rest of my estate, both personal and real bonds, mortgages, goods, warehouse- 
ing, lands, debts, effects and things, in all or any part of the world, I give. 



*NoTE. — Susannah Jacobs was probably daughter of Wm. and Susannah 
Hasey, of Rumney Marsh (now Revere); born May 30, 1660. 

Her father was of the Artillery Co., in 1653. 

She married James Lindall; left one child, Elizabeth, who married John 
Pitts, the first settler; she afterward married John Jacobs, and survived him. 
April 19, 1711, she deeded to John Pitts " in consideration of his marriage to 
Elizabeth, only daughter of me, my tenement in Sudbury street, now occu- 
pied by him." She also made deed of gift to him Aug. 23, 1717, of house, land 
and wharf near the great drawbridge, Boston. 

Mr. Brinley has a fine portrait of her at Tyngsboro. 



51 

devise and bequeath to my now only son, James Pitts, now student of Har- 
vard College in Cambridge, and to his heirs and assigns forever. 

Witnesses: Andrew Hall, John JBennet and Owen Harris. 

INVENTORY OF .JAMES PITTS. 

As some of this generation may be interested in seeing what a 
Boston gentleman of 1776 possessed, the following abstract of the 
inventory of James Pitts is added. His son, John, was the adminis- 
trator, and his bond was signed by Gen. Benjamin Lincoln* and Moses 
Gill, dated May 7, 1776, Book 75, p. 208, and is recited as being " in 
the State of Massachusetts Ba}- : " 1,232 oz. wrought plate, 42 gold 
rings ;■]" 3 gold watches, a gold chain, snuff bos and whistle ; 1 watch, 
Prince's metal, 2 cases China-handle knives and forks, 24 yards silk 
for men's wear ; 3f yards velvet for men's wear, 1 pair spurs and snuff 
box ; 3 horses and old saddle ; 1 chariot, 1 old chariot on slay run- 
ners ; 1 four-wheeled carriage and a sedan ; 11 pictures, called car- 
toons, 1 single-horse chaise, 3 snuff boxes ; sheets, rugs and blankets, 
feather-beds, bedsteads and curtains, tables, chairs, glass case, draws 
and desks, large carpets, quilts and floor cloths ; brass, pewter, copper 
and ironware, about 600 hogsheads salt, a negro boy and clothes, 2 
large rolling-stones for garden ; a parcel of English goods, various 
sorts, clock, lanthorn, buckets, China Delph, glass and stoneware, table- 
cloths, napkins, towels, etc.;"' so 'much for personal property. Real 
estate was farm and marsh, at Pullings Pt.; the Mansion house and 
land adjoining ; a house at New Boston, near to Dea. Newell ; 
Blanchard's estate and pasture ; land where Low lived ; a chaise-house 
and land ; old house and land ; house at town dock ; wharf-houses 
and stores ; wharf house on C. street ; Do. on Long wharf ; Murraj^'s 
house, etc.; old wharfs. (Probate Records 82 p. 17.) 

WILLS AND estates. 

James Pitts was executor under the wills of his father John Pitts, 1731, 
his grandmother Susannah Jacobs, 1733, and his wife's father, James Bowdoin, 
1747— all large estates, and for his sons Thos. (1769) and James (1772). John 
Pitts, oldest son of James, was executor for his father, John Pitts, in 1776; his 
brother Wm., in 1785; his brother Lendall, in 1788. 



*Seeretar3' of "War under Gen. Washington. 

f It was customary, in olden times, for the nearest friends of deceased 
persons to wear linger rings in memory of the departed. On the 13th of Au- 
gust, 1881, I was shown two broad, heavy rings — one worn for many years, 
last past, b}^ Lendall Pitts Cazeau in memorj^ of Elizabeth Lindall Pitts, 1683- 
1769, and the other worn for many years by Robert C. Winthrop, in memory 
of Elizabeth Bowdoin Pitts, 1717-1771, which, he said, had been worn by his 
mother most of her life. G. 



52 

Margaret G. Pitts, of Boston, gentlewoman, daughter of Lendall and Eliza- 
beth Fitch Pitts, made her will 24th July, 1823; proved Oct. 13, 1823. "To 
James Merrill, Boston, merchant, Robert Brinley, Tyngsboro, gentleman, all my 
right, title and estate of and to a certain lot of land held in common with said 
Brinley on Kennebec River, Me., supposed to contain 400 acres. Also all prop- 
erty devised to me by the Hon. Jona. Warner, of Portsmouth; they to liold it 
till it can be advantageously sold, in trust for mj^ sister Eliza. W. Cazeaux, wife 
of Gerard Cazeaux, of Barbasto, France, and also the children of mj^ brother, 
William Pitts." 

[The Boston Gazette and Country Journal, October 31, 1771. No. 863.] 

Yesterda}' died here in the fifty-fifth 3'ear of her age, Mrs. Elizabeth 
Pitts, consort of the Hon. James Pitts, and a daughter of the late Hon. 
James Bowdoin (deceased.) 

Though funeral characters are frequently disgustful, from the length 
and extravagance of them, it is but just, on this occasion, to say that 
in the several relations of life, Mrs. Pitts discharged the duties of them 
with the utmost vigilance and fidelity, and at the same time in a man- 
ner so engaging as to make her esteemed and beloved in them all. 

Her friends have reason to console themselves under their great loss 
from this consideration, that her departure from the present state was 
introductive to another in which they have sutficieut ground to hope 
she is admitted to the happiness prepared for the virtuous beyond the 
grave ; a happiness lasting as her spiritual nature, and equal to its 
powers of reception. 

" Safe is she lodg'd above these rolling spheres ; 
% The baleful influence of whose giddy dance 

Sheds sad vicissitude on all beneath. 
Here teems with revolutions every hour ; 
Each moment has its sickle emulous 
Of Time's enormous sc3^the, whose ample sweep 
Strikes empires from the root ; each moment plays 
His little weapon in the narrower sphere 
Of sweet domestic comfort, and cuts down 
The fairest bloom of sublunary bliss. 
Let wisdom blossom from this mortal wound." 

[Copy from Vol. XXI, New Eng. Gen. )ieg., p. 286.] 
Robert Brinley, Esq., died at his residence, in T^aigsboro, on 
the 24th of March, 1867, at the advanced age of ninety-two years and 
six months. His father was Nathaniel, son of Col. Francis Brinley, of 
Roxbury, and his mother, Catharine, was a daughter of the Hon. 
George Craddock, of Boston, Vice Judge of the Court of Admiralty- 



53 

The subject of this notice was born at the house, in Hoxbury, of 
his uncle, Hon. Robert Auchmuty, a Vice Judge of the Admiralty, on 
the 27th of September, 1774. Intending to be a merchant, he entered 
into the counting-room of Oliver Brewster, of Boston, and, in the year 
1797, formed a partnership in business with Hon. James Lloyd, for- 
merly a Senator in Congress, from Massachusetts. He passed several 
3-ears in Europe, and, soon after his return home, he gave up mercan- 
tile pursuits. On the 22d of September, 1801, he was married to 
Elizabeth, only child of John Pitts, and grand-daughter of Hon. 
Judge John Tj-ng, of Tyngsboro, and estal)lished himself in that 
town. Having a very extensive landed estate to superintend, he 
devoted himself, to a late period of his life, to its management. He 
was, in air and manner, a gentleman of the old school. He was 
genial, urbane and with a hand open as da}- to ever}' object of benevo- 
lence or utilit}'. He has gone to his rest with the universal respect 
and affectionate remembrance of the people among whom he moved 
unostentatiously for so many j'ears. 

Same volume, p. 185, has an interesting account of Hon. George 
Sullivan, who married, in 1809, Sarah Winthrop, daughter of Sir John 
Temple and Elizabeth Bowdoin. Mr. Sullivan left two sons, both of 
whom took the name of Bowdoin, from the will of Sarah, daughter of 
William and niece of Gov. James Bowdoin, whose son, James Bow- 
doin, was her first husband. Her second husband was Gen. Henry 
Dearborn, for whom the forts at Detroit and Chicago were named, as 
well as one of the most beautiful residence avenues in the latter cit}". 

The Boston Ecening Transcript of December 9, 1864, has the following 
notice: 

Death of a Brave Young Solbier. — Intelligence has just been received 
of the death of Nathaniel Brinley, Jr., of T5"ngsboro, on the 13th of last Sep- 
tember, at Andersonville, Ga. He joined the First Massacluisetts Regiment of 
Heavy xlrtiller}' as a private, with other patriotic young men of his town, and 
cheerfulljr surrendered the charms of an enviable lionie from a high sense of 
obligation to his country. Of vigorous form, genial disposition, liberal heart 
and hand, liis presence was a joy to his comrades. He persistently refused 
promotion, preferring to prove by his acts that he was not urged to his course 
by the spur of a commission in prospective. At the battle of Spottsylvania 
Court House, in May last, he was wounded, taken prisoner, carried to Lynch- 
burg, Va., and thence to Andersonville, where he died after months of foul 
incarceration. Thus has passed awaj^ another youthful victim to the Molock 
of rebellion. But the memory of his gallantry, his loving and unselfish na- 
ture and conscientious devotion to duty, will be ever and freshly remembered. 

Note. — At the old Brinley Mansion at Tyngsboro there are several valu- 
able old portraits. 



54 

One of Zackary Craddock. D. D.. Provost of Eton College, in the time 
of Charles II. a descendant of Matthew Craddock. the first Governor of 
Massachusetts Colony. 

One of Gov. James Bowdoin. 

One of Susannah Jacobs, whose first husband was James Lindall. She 
was mother of Mrs. John Pitts, and grandmother of James Pitts. 

One of Robert Brinley and his wife, painted by Lawson. 

One of James Pitts, and one of Elizabeth Bowdoin, his wife, painted by 
Blackburn in 1757. 

POWER OF ATTORXET — .JOHX AUDLIE TO .JOHX PITTS— 1695. 

John Audlie, of Branscomb. in the county of Devon. Whereas, John 
Carter, heretofore of Branscomb aforesaid, and late of Charlestown. in N. E., 
deceased, had an estate, now occupied by his widow, lately intermarried with 
one Mr. John Amerson, a schoolmaster, and as said Carter did give the house 
unto James Audlie, of the same, his nephew, also deceased, said John Audlie 
being brother of said James Audlie. 

Xow, in consideration of the trust I have in John Pitts, of Lvme Regis, 
in Dorset, merchant, now resident of Boston, X. E., I make my friend, John 
Pitts, my attorney. I set my hand and seal, and Bazuth Pitts, Mayor of the 
Burrough of Lyme Regis, hath set his seal, sexto die, August, 1695. 

JOHX AUDI4JE. 

Stamped in 
presence of 

James Pitts. Bexj. Mitchell. 

Wm. Prekge, Vicar of Branscomb, Johx Baxfield, 

JoHX Bajsteeld, Johx Chaxxox, 

Nath. Dowxe, Overseers of 

Church Wardens, the Poor, 

Testify that John and James Audlie were the sons of James Audlie, now liv- 
ing, and Sarah, his late wife, deceased. 

Entered Lib. 14 fol. 264 Suf. Deeds, at the request of John Pitts, Septem- 
ber 30, 1696. 

XoTE. — John Carter, of Charlestown, mariner, married Sarah Stower, who 
afterward married the Rev. John Emerson. By will he gave his house to his 
servant and kinsman. John Audhe, if his wife die or marry again. See Wy- 
man, p. 192. 

POWER OF ATTORNEY — SARAH MASOX TO .JOHN' PITTS. 

By this publick Instrument of Procuration or Letter of Attorney, be it 
known and manifest unto all People that on the fourth day of ^larch Anno 
Dom 1730. Before me, John Ruck. Xotary Public, admitted and sworn, dwell- 
ing in London, and in the presence of the witnesses whose names are here- 
unto subscribed, personally appeared Mrs. Sarah Mason, of London, Spinster, 
Executrix of the last will and testament of her Father, Stephen Mason, late 
of London, merchant, deceased, which said appearer declared to have made, 
ordained and constituted, and by these presents doth make, ordain and con- 



55 

slitute Mr. John Pitts, of Boston, in Xew England, her true and lawful 
Attorney, giving, and by these presents granting, unto her said Attorney 
full power and authority for and in the name and on behalf of the said con 
stituent (Executrix as aforesaid) to grant, bargain, sell, assign, convey and 
set over all such lands. Tenements, Hereditaments, Houses or Plantationa, as 
were part or parcel of or any ways belonging to the estate of her late 
Father, Stephen Mason, deceased, in Xew England aforesaid, which - ow 
are the property of her the said constituent, as she is daughter and Exr cu- 
trix to her said late Father, to any person or persons whatsoever, aid in 
the name and on behalf of the said constituent to sign, seal, execute and 
deliver in due form to, or to the use of, such person or persons as shall pur- 
chase the same or any part thereof, all such deeds of Lease and Release, con^ 
veyances or other writings and instruments as shall be necessary, and the 
custom of the place shall require and to receive the purchase money or 
effects that shall be paid for all or anj- the said lands, tenements, heredita- 
ments, houses or plantations aforesaid, upon recoveries and receipts, to make 
and give due and sufficient acquittances and discharges. Also, if need be, to 
appear, and the person of the said constituent to represent in any Court or 
Courts convenient: To sue, arrest, seize, sequester, attach, imprison and to 
condemn, and out of prison again, when needful to deliver cum facultate siib- 
stituendi. and generally in and about the premises to do, say, transact and 
accomplish all that shall be requisite and necessary, as fully, amply and 
effectually as she, the said constituent, might or could do, if personally pres- 
ent, she hereby promising to hold and ratify, for good and valid, all and what- 
soever her said Attorney or his substitutes shall lawfully do or cause to be done 
in or about the premises, by virtue of these presents. In witness whereof, 
the said Sarah Mason, the constituent, doth hereunto set her hand and seal, 

n London, the day and year within written. 

Sarah Masox. [L. S.] 
Sealed and delivered, 
being duly stampt, 
in the presence of us, 

SAJfL Gary, John Crocker. 

( '''^^ ) In testimonium Veritatis. 

■) SE-VL. - joiTN- Ruck, Xot. Pub. 

' r-^ ' 1730. 

BOND. 

Know all men by the.se presents that we. James Pitts, as Principal, James 
Bowdoin and Stephen Boutineau. as siu-eties, all of Boston, in the County of 
Suffolk, in the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in Xew England, are 
holden and stand firmly bound to Edward Hutchinson. John Osborn, Jacob 
Wendell. William Foye, Samuel Welles. Samuel Sewall, Hugh Hall. Joshua 
Winslow and Edward Brorafield. all of Boston aforesaid, in the sum of five 
hundred and thirty-two pounds, lawful silver money of the Province afore- 
said, for which payment, well aud truly to be made, we jointly and severally 
bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators firmly by these pres- 
ents. Sealed with our seals. Dated in Boston the thirtieth day of Xovember, 
Anno Domini 1733. 



56 

The condition of this obligation is such that if the said James Pitts, James 
Bowdoin, Stephen Boutineau, or either of them, shall pay the said Edward 
Hutchinson, John Osborn, Jacob Wendell, William Foye, Samuel Welles, 
Samuel Sewall, Hugh Hall. Joshua Winslow and Edward Bromfield, 
two hundred and eighty ounces of coined silver of sterling alloy, or nineteen 
ounces nine penny-weight and fourteen grains of coined standard gold, both 
Troy weight, on the thirtieth day of December, which will be in the year of 
our Lord 1735. then this obligation to be void, else to be and remain in full 
force and virtue. 

In presence of James Pitts. [L. S.] 

RiCHD Hubbard. James Bowdoix. [L. S.] 

JoffN' .Sewall. Steph. Boutixeau. [L. S.] 

Know all men by these presents that we, James Pitts, as principal, and 
James Bowdoin and William Bowdoin. a.s sureties, all of Boston, in the 
County of Suffolk, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in Xew England, are 
holdenand stand firmly bound to Edward Hutchinson. Samuel Welles, Samuel 
Sewall. Hugh Hall. Joshua Winslow. Andrew Oliver, Edmund Quincy. Thomas 
Oxnard and James Boutineau, all of Boston aforesaid, in the smn of three 
hundred and fifty-four pounds, in lawful silver money of the Province afore- 
said, to be paid to the said Edward Hutchinson, Samuel Welles, Samuel Sew- 
all, Hugh Hall, Joshua Winslow, Andrew Ohver, Edmund Quincy, Thomas 
Oxnard and James Boutineau, their executors, administrators or assigns, for the 
which payment well and truly to be made, we jointly and severally bind our- 
selves, our heirs, executors and administrators, firmly by these presents, sealed 
with our seals. Dated in Boston the fii-st day of August, Anno Domini 1740. 
The condition of this obligation is such that if the said James Pitts, James 
Bowdoin and William Bowdoin shall pay the said Edward Hutchinson, 
Samuel Welles, Samuel Sewall. Hugh Hall, Joshua Winslow, Andrew Oliver, 
Edmund Quincy, Thomas Oxnard and James Boutineau, one hundred and 
twenty-seven ounces of coined silver of sterling alloy, or twelve oimces of 
coined standard gold, both Troy weight, on the 31st day of December, which 
will be in the year of om- Lord 1748, then this obligation to be void, else to be 
and remain in full force and virtue. 

In presence of Jas Pitts. [L. S.] 

Jxo. Foye, Jcx. James Bowdoix. [L. S.] 

EDm'D QtTXCY. JrxR. Willm Bowdoix. [L. S.] 

The originals of the two above bonds are in my possession. I have not 
learned the object of them, but was struck with the family character of them. 
James Pitts, the Principal, was a brother-in-law of Hugh Hall and Stephen 
Boutineau, and son-in-law of James Bowdoin, and his wife was a niece of 
Wm. Bowdoin. 

I have the original manuscript of the following receipt of Thomas 
Flucker, for part of his wifes share of the Bowdoin estate, as follows: 

BosTOX, May 10, 1748. 

This day settled the account between the late James Bowdoin, Esq., 
deceased, and myself, and the balance due from me is £7,074 7s. lOd., and 



57 

have received my proportion of silver-plate, amounting to £694 4s. Id., and, 
in cash, £4,897 8s. Id ; aH which, with the above receipts, amount to £27,500, 
old tenor, and is so much in part of my wife's share in the estate of the said 
James Bowdoin, Esq., deceased, having signed two receipts of this tenor and 
date as above. Thomas Flucker. 



£ s. 


d.l 


7,074 7 10 1 


694 4 


1 


4,897 8 


1 


14,834 






£37,500. 
Also the following: 

Received of mj^ father, Bowdoin, the day after marriage to his daughter 
Judith, his note of hand for the 27th of October, 1732, £2,000. 

Thomas Flucker. 

LETTERS. 

The following letters now in my possession indicate that Mr. James Pitts 
and his brothers-in-law once owned the Elizabeth Islands, off the coast of 
Rhode Island Naushan — the largest of the range — has been made a Paradise 
by Hon. John M. Forbes, a great capitalist of Boston: 

GOV. JAMES BOWDOIN TO JAMES PITTS. 

Boston, Nov. 27, 1752. 
Mr. Pitts : 

Sir — I pray _you to send me £200, in order to dispatch Mr. "Williams, with 
whom we have finished in relation to the Mayhew affair. I will take care you 
shall be in the same footing in all respects as I have, in proportion to j-our right 
in the Island. Your most humble servant, 

James Bowdoin. 

gov. james bowdoin to james pitts. 

Boston, December 22, 1752. 
Received of Mr. James Pitts £66, lawful money, towards paying the con- 
sideration money to ^Ir. Mayhew for suffering a common recoveiy of Eliza- 
beth Islands, belonging to the estate of James Bowdoin, deceased, which sura 
is to be charged to said estate. James Bowdoin. 

LETTER from COL. HENRY JACKSON TO GEN. KNOX, DATED BOSTON, MAY 27, 1777. 

[He writes:] " We had high Fun last Thursday at Town meeting; at 
the choice of representatives there was great opposition. North against South. 
Coll" C. & Collo A. headed. The North list was— Deacon Davis, Ellis Gray, 
John Brown, Deacon Jefferds, Oliver Wendell, the Hon. John Hancock, John 
Pitts. Our list was — Deacon Davis, Henderson Inches, John Pitts, Ellis Gray, 
Oliver Wendell, Jos'" Barrell, Sam' A Otis. You know the North seldom or 
ever get beat in Pope affairs — thej^ were too strong for us, and they got their 
List in, but bj-^ a small majority." (Vol. IV, p. 6, Knox MSS.) 

It is interesting to note the popularity of Mr. Pitts in the fact of his name 
being in both lists. 



58 



SENATOR JOHN PITTS TO COL. WARNER. 

Boston, May 30, 1781. 

Dear Brother — I wrote you how ill 3Irs. Pitts was and mj^ apprehensions 
that I should soon be a very unhappy man, which is now too true, for my dear 
Mrs. Pitts died last Friday, and yesterday we committed her remains to the 
place of silence. I would not wish to describe to you, were it possible for 
language to do it, m_y distress. In short, every comfort to me is struck dead 
except that of my dear little girl, who is my only happiness (if anythmg can 
be such), and my pain — I need the aid of a Philosopher and a Christian to recon- 
cile me to mj'^ hard fate. But why should I trouble you with my distress when 
it will not lighten it ? Your sjTnpathy and that of dear Betsej- I know will 
be great. Tell her I conjure her not to place an undue affection upon anything 
human, and then she may escape the misery I am plunged in. Altho' in a sit- 
uation not to think of anything but what I would wish to avoid, I am con- 
strained to acquaint you that the unimproved lands belonging to our Father's 
estate are so taxed in paper and silver money that unless some means can be 
provided to pay the taxes, there may be danger of a sale of part bj^ the Col- 
lectors, who take every advantage, and our laws favour it. There are offers 
made for several tracts, which our Brothers think, & indeed I do, that it will 
be the best to part with, for they bring in nothing, are taxed bej'ond all con- 
science, & stript of what is valuable upon them besides. They therefore have 
begged me to know your & Sister Warner's inclination, as thej- say they are 
at all events detennined to part with what they have a right to in them ; but 
if any one tract is sold, it would be best it should be all sold together. There 
are 300 acres in the Town of Charlestown, for which there is an offer of £400, 
which would have been sold in Father's lifetime, had not the land come by 
our mother. There is another tract of 400 acres in Granville, which there is 
an offer of £800 for, & also a tract of 3,000 acres in Great Barrington, for 
which persons now apply to buy & will give £3,000 for. Under all circum- 
stances our Brothers are desirous these lands should be sold. Pray let me 
know j^our »S: Sister Warner's mind, which they are desirous of knowing. 

Col. Tyng, Miss Betsej^ Tyng & Miss Fanny Tyler are with me and pre- 
sent their regards. 

I am, with due regard to you & dear Betsey, 

Your affectionate but unhappy Brother, 

Jn". Pitts. 

senator JOHN PITTS TO COL. WARNER. 

Boston, May 10, 1783. 
Dear Brother: 

I received your favors, one per the Post, enclosing the Deed of land to 
Williams executed, part of the money has been received wch when I collect 
more I presume must be applied to discharge the money due to Mrs. Bayard's* 
children for the money in the hands of my late Father, as executor to the 
estate of old Mr. Bowdoin, dec'd. The difficulty to obtain money is here 
beyond description & the taxes so great that the people are running mad. As 
fast as I can collect money I shall. Mr. Alexander has reed 100 dollars. 

♦Mrs. Bayard waR a sister of Gov. Bowdoin. Her daughter Phnebe was the wife ot Gen. Arthur 
St. Clair, whose life has been recently published by William Henry Smith. 



59 

Since I wrote you last, we have been agreeing for the sale of the 1600 
Acres of land in Granville, and after a long time, determined upon the price, 
being the most that can be obtained wch is £1,000, & I find that People whom 
we ma}' depend upon, advised to the sale of it, as the price of land falls every 
day in consequence of the taxes & scarcity of mone}^ 

Inclosed is the Deed of the land, we have also disposed of Vassalls place 
at Cambridge to Nathaniel Tracy, Esq. [now Samuel Batchelder'sJ for Eight 
hundred and fifty pounds, payable in one year, & to take his note of hand for 
the money. It is looked upon to be sold for a very great price. I pre- 
sume there is no doubt of his being able to pay for it, altho he is very 
largely concerned in shipping, but if there is a risk, it is sold at a 
price in proportion to it. Mr. Tracy was willing to give separate 
notes on interest to each, as my Brothers might take their pay in a 
way of trade, if it should so happen that it may be more convenient to Mr. 
Tracy & them ; I shall take his note to you in the same manner as our 
own. The deed to Mr. Tracy is inclosed, wch with the other to Robinson for 
Granville land is inclosed. One half the money Robinson is to paj^ next 
November & the other half in the Novr following, & to give other land 
for security until the money is paid, the reason of wch is, he bought the land 
to dispose of in lots & must give deeds. I wish to have all matters of the 
Family settled, and as soon as my Brother will say the time, they will cer- 
tainly attend to it, I will inform j^ou. 

I want to see you & Betsey, but when it will be I cannot say, for I am 
horseless & spiritless; notwithstanding I find myself under a necessity to gratify 
the earnest desire of my dear little Girls friends at Dunstable to carry her there 
this summer. If I can make a stretch to Portsmouth depend on it I shall, but 
I hope to see you and sister Warner there or in Boston, or both. 

The court being just agoing to rise, I have only time to add that all friends 
are well except Miss Betsy B. Temple who is very ill, the Doctor fears she is 
in a hectic, but she is for two or three days past a little better. 

My regards to Betsy, whom I want to see, and compliments to your Fam- 
ily & friends. 

Your affectionate Brother, 

Jno Pitts. 
P. S. Please to send the enclosed Deeds as soon as convenient, perhaps 
you will find a private hand as postage for double letters is high. Tell Betsy 
her little namesake is well & all at once taken to her heels and is full of mis' 
chief. I must refer you to the Brigadier for all matters passing in town. 

SENATOR JOHN PITTS TO MAJ. GEN. KNOX. 

The following letter, from the Hon. John Pitts to Gen. Knox, is in answer 
to one from him dated October 8, 1782, in relatioa to the return to Boston of 
a son of Isaac Wiuslow, Esq. The young man was eighteen years of age, and 
had a brother and sister in Boston : 

Boston, November 5th, 1782. 
Sir: 

The observations respecting young Mr. Winslow, in your letter which I 
had the honor to receive, no doubt are well founded, and therefore I appre- 



60 

hend there can be no objection in reason to his inserting himself into this 
State by tlie most convenient opportunity, but I can't say what would be the 
public opinion. I have not attempted to ascertain it by laying j^our letter 
before the General Court, as, prior to my receiving it, the Court had deter- 
mined to take up no more private matters during ye present session than what 
had been already received. If you should think it proper to risk his coming 
into this State, a letter to the Governor similar to that you wrote me might 
be a good method to present him to public view. Another thought has sud- 
denly occurred to my mind, the propriety of which I must refer wholly to 
your consideration. It is, if you can consistently admit Mr. Winslow into 
your lines, and take him into the service, his having been in arms would be a 
powerful argument for his return in this State, and the recognising him as a 
Subject. 

I wish it was in my power to facilitate his return, but if application 
should be made to the General Court while I am a member, my endeavours 
shall not be wanting. 

I am, Sii', with esteem and respect, 

Your most hum. Servant, 

John Pitts. 
P. S. 
My respecful Compliments 
to your Lady. 
Hon. Major General Knox. 

(Vol. X, p. 82, Knox Mss., New Eng. Hist, and Gen. Soc.) 

JOHN ELLIOTT TO JOHN PITTS. 

Cavan (Ireland), February 8, 1798. 
Sir: 

Mrs. Elliott and I flatter ourselves, you'll excuse the Trouble of our re- 
questing, you'll be so ol)liging, as to transmit a statement of our demand on 
your father, at; one of the Executors of his Grandfather, the intercourse be- 
tween your capital, and Dublin being now frequent, affords opportunities, 
which heretofore, we had not the convenience of. I liad the honor to receive 
Mr. Bowdoin's account a few days ago, to whom I shall write by the same 
ship, that conveys this from Dublin, I am infinitely obliged to him, for the 
Trouble he has taken, and also for the clear, and candid manner, he has con- 
ducted himself towards us. By his abstract, I observe your name mentioned, 
as having paid some money for particular purposes to our Debit, I beg leave 
to refer you to him, for the manner, in which he proposes to exonerate him- 
self from his Trust, which, I shall cheerfully adopt, but not until, I have a 
duplicate of yours, that l)oth may be liquidated at the same time. 

Mrs. Elliott begs to present her sincere Regard to all your family. 

I am Sir 

Your Obedient and 

very Humble Servant 

John Elliott.* 

*Elliott of the English Army was husband of Sarah Bayard, sister of Mrs. Gen. Arthur St. Clair. 
He died 1810, she died 1821. 



61 



SHRIMPTON HUTCHINSON TO JOHN PITTS. 

Boston, 6tli July, 1784. 
John Pitts, Esq.: 

Dear Sir — I hope your country retirement, as it grows more familiar, will 

be more agreeable. Your Uncle and Aunt Bowdoin set oiit for Naushan last 

Wednesday, and were at some uncertainty whether they should find their son 

and daughter at the Island, as Mr. Bowdoin, Jun., has greatly recovered his 

health, and talked of being at home last week. As he does not make his 

appearance here, I suppose they all met at the Island. We have no news 

here to entertain you with. Mr. Tracey paid his bond, principal and interest, 

£360, to Mr. Gore, the beginning of last week, and the first of this month I 

paid Mrs. Ilayley the balance of acct., £130. I hope soon to see you in town, 

and I am, with the greatest regard and esteem, 

Your affectionate friend, 

Shrimpton Hutchinson. 

JOHN PITTS TO col. WARNER. 

Boston, Feb'y. 23d, 1797. 

Dear Brother — I arrived here the last evening, where I have not been 
for three months, by reason of the severity of the weather and by bad traveling. 
Here I find people failing in trade, notwithstanding the excess of show in dress 
and feasting, Plaj^s and every kind of dissipation. 

I was glad to hear you and Betsy, &c., are well, wch aunt Bowdoin 
informed me of through Granville Temple [succeeded Sir John Temple as 
ninth Baronet] , who I hear has made a visit to you. He has made application 
to Mr. Russell, and the matter is settled to take each other "for better, for 
worse." He will realize not less than £30,000 sterg. by her. 

Judge Tyng is still above the surface. If he survives another year, it is 
presumed he will not be much more than a child. But he has lately deter- 
mined to have his coffin made. He stood with firmness and fortitude of mind 
to be measured, and his observations upon the expectation of dissolution would 
do honor to any man. He is now like a candle burnt to the socket, and the 
unexpected glimmerings may continue, when the lamp of life, with respect to 
many of us, may be extinguished ; but, those of the faculty conversant with 
him, don't expect he will reach the age of 93, upon wch he is just entering. 
The 25th of the last month, he arrived at the age of 92, wch was celebrated 
by a company at his house at dinner, of 26 in number, and he was as gay as a 
young man. 

I long to have an opportunity to see you, Betsy, &c., which as soon as 
the spring opens I shall attempt. 

I am, with affection, &c., 

John Pitts. 
HoNO. Jona Warner, Esq. 

[Adverlizement. ] 
The Proprietors of the Kennebeck purchase from the late colony of New 
Plymouth, hereby inform the Publick that besides the twelve Townships men- 
tioned in their advertizement of the 16th February last, they have agreed to 
appropriate a tract of land on each side of Kennebeck River, for the accomo- 



62 

dation of such families as may be inclined to settle there. The land referred 
to is situated a little above Cobbiseconte River, where the navigation of Ken- 
nebeck River is good for vessels of 100 tons burthen, and continues so several 
miles higher, as far as Fort Western. They propose to grant to each settling 
fiuuily 250 acres, viz., 100 acres front upon Keunebeck River 50 rods, and run 
one mile back, and 150 acres at 2 miles from said river, on condition that eacli 
family build an house not less than 18 feet square, and 7 feet stud : clear and 
make fit for tillage 5 acres within 3 years, and dwell upon the premises per- 
sonally, or by their substitutes, for the term of 7 yeai-s more. As this land is 
exceeding good, and is attended with many natural advantages, the families 
that apply for settlements there must be well recommended for their sobriety, 
honesty and industry, and such of that character who apply first will have 
the first choice of the lots to be granted. 

For further particulars enquire of James BowDors, James Pitts, Sil- 
vester GARDrsER and Besjamix Hallowell, Esqrs., of Boston, and Mr. 
WUliam Bowdoin. at Needham, Committee to the Kennebeck Proprietors. 

David Jeffries, 

Proprietor' s Clerk. 

Boston, 20th February, 1761. 

THE MOUXTFORT BIBLE, 

now owned by Isabella D. Goodwin, youngest child of Samuel 
Mountfort Pitts, is a ver}- rare book. It is a copy of the same 
edition owned and used dail}- by old Samuel Adams, the Father 
of the Revolution. See Vol. III. p 336. of Life of Samuel Adams, 
by Wells, where he says : • This Bible is now the property' of 
Mr. Drake, the well-known antiquarian." It is a large folio, being 
about seventeen inches high, and three and one-half inches thick, and 
of proportionate width ; the paper and print are beautiful, and the 
binding was of the most substantial kind, with massive brass mount- 
ings and clasps. The Old Testament was printed in 1708, the New in 
1707, and the Psalms in 1679, the last at Edinburgh and the first at 
London. Copies of this edition of the Bible are of exceeding rarity. 
Our great Bible collector. George Livermore, has never yet been able to 
obtain one, and the venerable Dr. Jenks has remarked to the editor 
that he has seen no other copy of the edition. It contains several 
beautifully executed maps." 

The Mountfort Bible is one of that edition. The Psalms were 
printed by Ivan Tyler, in 1679, during the reign of Charles II. and is 
the paraphrase approved b}' the General Assembly of the Kirk of 
Scotland. November 23, 1649, during the reign of Cromwell and the 
Commonwealth. The other books, including the Apocrapha, were pub- 
lished in 1707 and 1708, during the reign of Queen Anne. The Coat 



63 

of Arms of England, Scotland and Ireland, with the rose, thistle and 
shamrock, is on each title page. 

The following entries, among others, appear in the familj' record : 

Jonathan Mountfort Jr., married to Sarah Bridge, November 25, 
1742, by the Rev. Mr. William Wallsted. 

Sarah Mountfort, daughter to Jonathan and Sarah Mountfort. born 
May 11. 1745. 

Jonathan Mountfort, son to Jonathan and Sai'ah Mountfort. born 
December 6. 1746. 

Hannah Mountfort, born June 27. 1750. 

Sarah Mountfort. married to William Hitchborn. September 2. 1762. 

Jonathan Mountfort. Jr., married to Mary Bole. December 30, 1772, 

Hannah Mountfort. married to William Nathaniel Greenough, April 
25, 1775. 

Hannah Greenough. born August 8. 1776. 

Thomas Pitts, married to Elizabeth Mountfort, in Chelmsford, at 
the house of his father, Samuel Pitts. Esq., on Tuesda}-. the 9th of 
November. 1802, by the Bev. Nathaniel Lawrence, of Tyngsboro. 

William Stoddard Bridge, married to Marv Pitts, daughter of the 
late Samuel Pitts, of Chelmsford, at Fort Preble. November 23, 1811, 
by the Rev. Mr. Sawyer, of Cape Elizabeth. 

Samuel Mountfort Pitts, first son of Thomas and Elizabeth Pitts, 
born in Fort Preble, near Portland, April 17, 1810. 



